Games That Support Excellent
Teaching and Accelerate Learning
Games That Support Excellent
Teaching and Accelerate Learning
Research continues to validate gamification as a powerful learning tool. Here’s how it works:
Penda leverages the mechanics and principles of games to engage students both emotionally and intellectually.
Students are rewarded for learning which inspires them to continue playing and increase their achievement.
Penda’s online science activities combine the fun and motivation of a video game with evidence-based educational practices.
We use science to teach science.
How Penda Supports Student Engagement & Learning
Proven Pedagogy
Penda puts cutting-edge pedagogy front and center, employing Webb’s Depth of
Knowledge (DOK) Levels to expand a student’s skill set. Penda’s rigorous activities have
been shown to literally forge new neural pathways in the brain.
The inquiry-based 5E Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) is
also employed to help students build a foundation for knowledge and deepen their
understanding through active participation.
Supporting Mastery, Step by Step
Penda uses Piaget’s concept of scaffolding by allowing a student to access prior knowledge
up front, which then motivates the student to complete the activity and move on through
higher levels of cognitive complexity. Activities are not timed, allowing students to move
at their own pace and without anxiety. Scaffolding also ensures that students with learning
challenges and language barriers have the same opportunities for success.
Our scaffolding system also speaks to Vygotsky’s Zones of Proximal Development,
offering students experiences and challenges that expand their emotional and intellectual
reach to encourage new skill-building and growth.
Empowering Students to Take Charge of Their Learning
Students learn best when they are engaged and in a state of “flow,” where challenge and
skill are in equilibrium.
When students choose, students learn: Penda activities ask students to make choices on
the fly, which enhances learning and retention.
Intrinsic Motivation
Giving students control over their customizable avatar isn’t just for fun, it also
engages them emotionally and cognitively. Students also choose friends from
their school or class to challenge within their Penda World, which nurtures
healthy academic competition and camaraderie. (Are your points lagging behind
a friend’s? Spend more time playing Penda games — before, during and after
school — and see if you can get your name on the Leader board.)
Immediate Feedback... Without Direct Instruction
We’ve taken the headache out of creating intervention groups, allowing teachers
to more easily differentiate instruction by assigning specific Penda activities
to the learning groups they’ve identified. As students make progress toward
standards mastery, move them in and out of intervention groups with just the
click of a button.
Distance Learning? Penda Travels!
Penda’s platform is 100% digital, meaning there is no headache when
transitioning between the classroom, home, or anywhere with an internet
connection. And don’t worry, teachers: Penda’s automated feedback cycle and
scaffolded activities keep your students progressing when you’re not in the room.
Automated weekly progress monitoring reports keep teachers in the know about
what their students know (and don’t know) so they can adjust instruction and
tailor interventions.
Take a Closer Look at Penda Science
What Teachers Are Saying
We quickly learned that Penda was the perfect solution for our lunch and learn sessions since it provided students with exposure to middle grades science content through a platform that genuinely engaged them in a personalized way, with minimal teacher facilitation. Students personally connected to their avatar and were excited by the challenge of competition between peers and/or other classes.
Nicole Jacquay
Middle School Science Supervisor, Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL)
Our school was blown away with Penda and all of the great activities, resources, and friendly competition it offers. The lesson and activities are aligned to our counties standards and follow our timeline, this will really help reinforce the standards being taught. Our teacher’s favorite part of the program was the inclusion of the levels of DOK. Students will have to demonstrate knowledge for the standards on all levels, what a great accountability piece! Everything a teacher would want in a program, is available through Penda.
Randa Nicholson
Math & Science Coach, Cypress Elementary School, Osceola County Public Schools (FL)
My Bio team absolutely loves Penda… even the students told me ‘thank you for Penda'.
Kathie McCart Blanco
Science Specialist, Alief Taylor High School (TX)