Welcome back to school! The Penda team hopes that you had a safe, healthy, and restful summer break. Penda team members have been hard at work all summer long to bring you the very best for the 2022-2023 academic year.Here are just a few projects we've completed to make Penda even better:


CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
- Assessments for every grade level (grades 3 - biology) that can be used for diagnostic, formative, and summative purposes - with line-item analysis reporting (released in 21/22)
- Grade 5 SSA Prep, Grade 8 SSA Prep, and Biology EOC Prep assessment activities (released in 21/22)
- 100 new environmental science activities released (FL NGSSS)
- The ability for teachers to embed Vimeo videos in custom-made Penda activities now available
- The ability for teachers to use HTML code within an iFrame in custom-made activities now available
- More concise timing (minutes per activity) has been applied to each activity type - for reporting purposes
- In-progress: multimedia being added to Penda activities to further engage visual learners
- In-progress: PhET interactive simulations being added to Penda activities to further engage kinesthetic/tactile learners and to deepen both 5E (engage, explore) and inquiry-based learning
- In-progress: Data sets and interactive graph/table tools being added to Penda activities to further engage kinesthetic/tactile learners and to deepen nature of science skills


IMPLEMENTATION
- Student recognition items (student log-in stickers, certificates of achievement, digital badges, swag stickers, etc) now available here
- One-stop hub for all digital teacher swag items now available here


PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
- Enhancement to 'student points earned per activity attempt' rule - students will earn the most number of points on their first attempt (maximum 100 points). On their second attempt, they will only earn a maximum of 75 points, and on their third attempt they will only earn a maximum of 50 points.
- Student activity "Review" option modification now live - now at the end of each activity, if students click "Review," they will have the opportunity of reviewing their work screen-by-screen, but Penda no longer provides the correct answer on screens where the student got the question incorrect.
- In-progress: All-new student user experience (launching in 2023), including all-new avatars, graphics, marketplace, gamification elements, new challenges/competitions
- In-progress: All-new teacher and admin dashboards (launching in 2023)


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Enhanced "Getting Started with Penda Science" teacher course, now referred to as "Level 1"
- Created a "Level 2" teacher PD course, titled "Power Up Your Penda Game: Get More out of Penda Science," that is jam packed with classroom and instructional strategies when using Penda and various school, classroom, and teacher-based examples.
- Enhanced "Make a Game Plan with Penda Science: Prepare for High-Stakes Assessments" teacher course, now referred to as "Level 3"
- Back-to-school Penda-sponsored 3-part teacher PD series now available. Registration and details can be found here.


SUPPORT
- Live chat support now available - log-in to your Penda account to access live chat support M-F, 8am - 5pm ET.
- Text support option now available - if you need to send us a screenshot or video to assist in your support request, you can simply text us at (720) 706-2626!