STEM

Penda Learning Adds New Science Activities, Boosts Integrations

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/26/20

Education technology company Penda Learning has added 850 new interactive science activities for grades 3-10 to its digital, game-based learning platform and introduced program improvements and integrations. According to the company, the science lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards as well as the learning standards for science in Florida and Texas.

The program integrates Immersive Reader from Microsoft, making the science activities more accessible to learners by providing translation of text into 60-plus languages. Immersive Reader allows for text to be read out loud, breaks it into syllables and increases spacing between lines and letters. It also offers text decoding solutions and other supports for students with word-reading difficulties such as dyslexia.

Penda also supports single sign on, which simplifies how users authenticate entry into the program when they're also using ClassLink, Clever, OAuth or other SSO protocols. Support of OneRoster from IMS Global Learning Consortium allows for secure transfer of student information between a district's student information system and the Penda platform, to speed up onboarding of teachers and students into Penda. The program also follows IMS' Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) 1.3 Advantage standards, to facilitate integration between Penda and a school system's learning management system. Teachers can assign Penda activities in the LMS and students can access them directly within the LMS; then as students complete assignments, their Penda scores are automatically added to the LMS gradebook.

"Penda Learning was designed to engage and motivate learners as well as facilitate independent learning," said President Brad Baird in a press release. "Our newest activities and latest updates make Penda an even more valuable resource to ensure continuity of learning with the uncertainty that we're facing in the 2020-21 school year."