Digital Science Learning That Keeps Students Engaged
Built-in simulations and gamification tools to inspire student progress
Vernier Connections® powered by Penda delivers rigorous, phenomena-based digital lessons that move students from passive reading into active sensemaking.
Rigorous, Standards-Aligned Lessons and Assessment for Every Learner
Connections offers digital lessons that enable student exploration of scientific phenomena through engaging inquiry and embedded simulations and videos. Each lesson is designed with a guiding performance standard and checks for understanding, so students can learn at their own pace with the feedback they need to achieve mastery.
Every activity is grounded in real-world phenomena and built to support three-dimensional learning across grades 3–12. Scaffolded supports meet students at their readiness level, and real-time feedback helps them reflect, adjust, and keep learning.
Elementary
Support teachers in delivering high-quality science instruction with confidence, regardless of their scientific background. Connections provides a structured, engaging way to build science knowledge alongside reading comprehension, vocabulary, and data literacy skills.
Middle & High School
Activities increase in complexity and depth by emphasizing evidence-based reasoning, data analysis, and scientific argumentation aligned to state performance expectations. Question types mirror the formats students encounter on high-stakes assessments, building content mastery and test-taking confidence over time.
Interactive Learning
Brings Science Concepts to Life
Help students visualize abstract concepts, analyze data, test hypotheses, and strengthen critical thinking skills through authentic scientific investigation.
PhET Simulations
Students manipulate variables and observe outcomes within an interactive, virtual environment to deepen their understanding of scientific concepts.
Tuva Datasets
Leverage collections of real-world data that enable students to find patterns, test ideas, and develop the data literacy skills needed in science and beyond.
Drawing & Modeling
Students represent their scientific thinking visually by constructing models and explaining systems, processes, and relationships rather than simply selecting an answer.
Motivate Students with Meaningful Challenges
Engage and reward student progress with built-in gamification. Access to SpaceCRAFT is customizable, making it easy to balance gamification with instructional activities.
Collaborative Problem-Solving
In SpaceCRAFT, students explore an unfamiliar world and work together to investigate their environment, solve problems, and navigate home, developing critical thinking and teamwork skills along the way.
Student Avatars
Students personalize their avatars by earning points as they complete and master instructional activities.
Leaderboards & Progress Tracking
Class leaderboards give students a real-time, visible measure of achievement, fostering friendly competition to drive engagement.
Promote Self-Directed Learning
Utilizing the digital lessons within Connections, students can continue learning anywhere with an internet connection, whether at school, at home, or during independent learning time.
As students complete activities independently, they receive real-time feedback to help them progress. Students can repeat activities to strengthen their understanding and build mastery at their own pace.
Standards-aligned activities, mapped to your district’s scope and sequence, support core instruction year-round and also help maintain continuity during teacher vacancies, long-term absences, or substitute-led instruction.
Progress Monitoring and Actionable Insights
With Connections, teachers get real-time insight into student understanding and district leaders gain visibility across classrooms, schools, and grade levels—before gaps widen.
View Reports and Dashboards
Blending the Strengths of Digital and Hands-On Learning
For grades 6–12, Connections integrates hands-on investigation using Go Direct® wireless sensors, bringing live data collection into digital learning. When students collect and analyze their own data, concepts become clearer, more relevant, and easier to connect to the real world.
Explore Hands-On Learning