Penda Learning Releases Cosmos, a Custom AI-Powered Instructional Assistant for K-12 Science Learning Support

Penda Learning's newest offering delivers timely, guided help that keeps students engaged and teachers informed without disrupting learning

STUART, Fla., Aug. 19, 2026 — Classrooms have limited time for one-on-one teacher support, which leaves many students frustrated and sometimes guessing at answers. To help students stay engaged and build confidence, Penda Learning, an award-winning provider of digital science instructional intervention for grades 3–12, has created Cosmos, an AI-powered instructional assistant. Districts can opt to have this new offering enabled within the Penda Learning platform to give students guided support when they get stuck and help teachers see where students need help most. Cosmos, which is patent-pending, was recently named a 2026 CODiE Award finalist for Best AI-Powered Tutoring Solution, further validating Penda's approach to using AI as an instructional support.

"Cosmos is designed to provide valuable assistance for teachers, especially new, out-of-field, or time-strapped teachers," said Scott Wenger, Chief Technology Officer at Penda Learning. "The AI can be integrated directly into the flow of instruction, so high-quality tutoring is instantly available within the activity students are completing, improving independence while preserving teacher time for targeted intervention and other instructional duties."

With Cosmos, students can choose to receive scaffolded explanations, strategic hints, quick summaries, or step-by-step coaching. In all cases, the responses never directly give the answer. Cosmos provides a pedagogical pivot similar to the way teachers guide students. In addition, the responses are aligned to the activity's learning objectives and science standards as well as with grade-level terminology. And because the Penda platform already included read-aloud and text translation, learners continue to receive that support when using Cosmos.

Guardrails in the form of structured preset prompts protect students from irrelevant responses. The AI also creates dynamic prompts to reflect the specific questions a student might have when working on the activity. Each interaction is time-stamped and saved to a student-facing chat history, enabling learners to revisit prior guidance, reflect on strategies that worked, and build durable understanding over time. The chat history also gives Cosmos context from previous interactions.

Since Cosmos handles routine clarification questions, teachers have more time for deeper instruction, small-group work, and introducing new concepts. In addition, the AI lets teachers see which students requested its help, the specific areas where support was requested, how often students use it, and how AI use may be affecting outcomes. Teachers can then tailor their own instruction and guidance based on the usage data. Cosmos is always off during assessments, and teachers can enable or disable the AI by assignment or individual student.

"Standalone chatbots can give away the answers and shut down students' learning flow," said Wenger. "Cosmos is designed to do the opposite, to help students work through the material with guided support that builds understanding without simply providing the answer. We built Cosmos from the ground up to work within Penda Learning, so it fits seamlessly into existing classroom routines and technology environments. For schools and districts that add Cosmos, it becomes a powerful instructional assistant for both students and teachers."

To learn more about Cosmos or for a demo of the Penda platform, please visit https://pendalearning.com/ai-automation.

About Penda Learning, A Learning 2020 Company Award-winning Penda Learning is a leading provider of digital science instruction and intervention for grades 3–high school. Trusted by schools and districts nationwide, Penda delivers engaging activities and assessments handcrafted to NGSS and state standards that combine rigorous science content, purposeful gamification, automation, and actionable reporting to help all students succeed. A two-time CODiE Award winner, Penda was recognized for Best Gamification in a Learning Tool in 2025 and Best Science Instructional Solution in 2026 and was also named to TIME's America's Top EdTech Companies 2026 list. Penda is committed to making science learning accessible, effective, and engaging for every learner. For more information visit: https://www.pendalearning.com

Media Contact: Charlotte Andrist Nickel Communications [email protected] Media Inquiries Only: 770-310-5244