Getting Started With Penda - Student Edition

In order to gain access, you will need to use a device with Internet access, such as a desktop, laptop, chromebook, iPad, tablet, or even a smartphone. 

How to access Penda & log in

1. Login to Penda - There are various ways to sign into Penda Science.
   • If you have a Clever or ClassLink account, look for a Penda app button on the launchpad.
   • If you have a Canvas or Schoology account, look for Penda off the left navigation bar.
   • Or you can always access Penda by navigating to www.PendaLearning.com using any internet web browser.
     • Click Log In found in the top right corner of the screen to enter your credential.
       Center ID:  Your teacher will provide you with the Center ID for your school
       User ID:  In most cases, you will enter your student ID number for BOTH the User ID and the password fields
       Password: In most cases, you will enter your student ID number for BOTH the User ID and the password fields.
       Getting Help - Forgot Center ID/User ID/Password? Can't Log In?
       
       
2. Select memorable question - The first time you sign in to Penda, you will be asked to select a memorable question, and type in your answer to the question.
   
   
3. Select an Avatar - Click on Choose Your Avatar.
   • Here you are able to choose from three different male avatars (on the left)  and three different female avatars (on the right).  To the left, you will notice that there are different items you can add to your avatar that will allow you to customize your avatar’s appearance.  These will unlock and become available as you successfully work through science activities assigned to you in the Penda World.  Carefully select your initial avatar, as you will not be able to make changes to it until you have successfully completed this Penda world, or level.
     
     
4. Select Friends - These are people you will be able to challenge within your Penda experience.  
   • The people you select as friends will not know that you have challenged them, unless you tell them, as there is no notification or chat feature on the Penda platform.  You are able to change the people who are selected as your friends at any time. If you wish, you can click Profile to make yourself invisible from other classmates and from the leaderboard.

How to complete assigned activities & re-do activities 

When you click the My Assignments tab, you will see a list of assignments that have been assigned to you.

1.  Determine an activity to complete.  There are three buttons, To Do, Complete, and Incomplete, you can complete an activity from any of these buttons:

• • To Do - This will show activities that you still need to complete.
  • Complete - This will show you the activities you have completed.
  • Incomplete - This will show the activities that you did not complete before the due date but are still available for you to complete for up to 2 weeks.
    

You will notice that there are a variety of activity types in different colors:
Developing in red, Achieving in yellow, and Exceeding in green.  To set yourself up for success, try to always complete the activities in this order like a stop-light - red, yellow, green. The activities will get harder as you move from developing to achieving, and achieving to exceeding and they build on one another. 

2.  Open the activity and work through the screens

On the first screen, you will notice objectives and key vocabulary words you’ll need to know to be successful in the activity. This activity has X screens to work through, and you will have X opportunities to earn points. In order to proceed to the next screen, you must make sure all questions on the screen have been answered.  Then the Next button will illuminate and you can click it to move to the next screen.

There are different types of questions in Penda activities.  Some questions have a drop down menu, while others may ask you to type in your response or drag and drop labels to the correct location on the screen.  If you find you have to stop an activity before it is completed, you can click the red X button to exit the activity.  Later, when you re-open the activity, you will begin at the location where you left off.

  3.  Completing the activity

Once you have completed an activity, you will be brought to a screen that shows your percent score and the points you earned by answering questions correctly, as well as a feedback message.  Your goal is to complete each Penda activity with a score of 80% or better.  If needed, you can go back and retry any activity as many times as it takes to achieve an 80% or better.  But remember! You earn the most points by answering the questions correctly and you can complete any activity for points 3 maximum times. We encourage you to not rush, work at your own pace, carefully read the activity, and even take notes as you complete the Penda activities.

4.  Retry any activity that does not have a score of at least 80%

To re-do an activity that you have already completed to earn a better score and more points, click on My Assignments, then click on the Complete button.  Here you will see all the activities that you have completed, the date the activity was due, your current score on the activity, and the date you completed the activity last my mousing over the due date. 

How to check your progress

1. Clicking on the My Progress tab, then click on Science to see:
   • All the activities you have completed.
   • Number of attempts you’ve made on each activity.
   • First score, the last score, and the best score you achieved.
   • Mastery - The activities in red are the ones you should go back and retry first to learn the science concept and get a higher score, followed by the yellow, then the green.
     • Mastered (the ones in green which are 80% or above)
     • Partially mastered (the ones in yellow that are scores of 60-79%)
     • Not mastered (the red ones that are below 60%). 
   • Time you have spent on Penda Science
   • How many trophies you have
   • How many points you’ve earned so far.

Penda game mechanics

Your Avatar

Your avatar will be located somewhere in this area we call the Penda world.  In challenging your 10 classmates or friends, the avatars will appear from left to right based upon the number of points earned - lowest points on the left, and the highest points on the right.  Try your hardest to keep your avatar as far to the right side of the screen as possible.

At any time, you can click on your avatar to see your total number of points, task hours, your current location within the Penda World, and any medals, trophies, or achievement challenge items you’ve collected.  You can also see your friends stats by clicking on them.

Leaderboard

You can see your class progress by total points on the Class tab of the leaderboard.  You can also see your personal points and ranking among all the students in your grade level at your school on the Student tab.  On the Student tab you will always see the top 10 highest performing students, as well as the person who is directly above you and below you in ranking. 

Penda World Journey - rewards, surprises, wardrobe and challenges

As you complete activities, the status bar across the top will move forward from left to right.  Along the way, things will happen during your Penda World journeys and you will unlock rewards and surprises.  This is based on the number of questions you answer correctly in each activity and the points you earn.

When you pass a reward, the reward will unlock and you can either use it immediately or you can store it in your avatar’s wardrobe. Your avatar’s wardrobe will appear in the upper right corner of your Penda World when you reach the very end of a Penda World, so be on the lookout for a neon t-shirt icon once the progress bar makes it all the way to the right, symbolizing the end of that Penda World journey. The icon will illuminate and you can double-click it to open the wardrobe and customize your avatar. Select from apparel, shoes, hats, accessories, and other items.  Once you have made selections in your wardrobe, it will lock and will not open again until you have traveled through and reached the end of the next Penda World.

Once you have traveled through and reached the end of a Penda World, you will be able to select the next world you’d like to go to. You can choose to go camping, go sky-diving, travel to space, tour a TV set in Hollywood, participate in a dance competition, investigate a crime scene… 14 different worlds in total.  The area at the top is where you will travel to the different worlds and where the features will unlock.

If you see a challenge in your Penda world, you can choose to accept or decline the challenge.  All challenges are initiated by the Penda system to see if you can match or beat your friends on a particular activity.  Students are not able to initiate a challenge on their own.