Capstone's PebbleGo Celebrates 10th Anniversary

MINNEAPOLIS, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Capstone's award-winning PebbleGo, a K-2 research product used in 20% of U.S. elementary schools, is celebrating its 10^th anniversary in 2019. In 10 years the database developed nine curriculum-focused modules, including Animals, Biographies, Science, Social Studies, Dinosaurs, and four Spanish version modules, and cultivated a passionate user community.

"PebbleGo was the first database specifically designed for K-2 students and has experienced tremendous growth since its launch. The user community is a strong network of educators who've truly embraced PebbleGo's capacity for developing language and literacy, project based learning, and research and critical thinking skills. Seeing the collaboration between students, classrooms, schools, and education professionals globally has been a phenomenon we couldn't have predicted. At its core, PebbleGo taps into a child's natural curiosity and interests and they love the freedom and independence it allows for discovery," said Darin Rasmussen, VP of Digital Product Development.

PebbleGo's first customer in 2009 remains a customer today. "Ten years ago when I was first introduced to PebbleGo, I was immediately impressed with its organization and accessibility for students. Because of the thoughtful design, accuracy, and student appeal, PebbleGo became my tool of choice to introduce research skills to our younger students. Ten years later, there are so many more topics offered and PebbleGo Next has arrived for our students who outgrew the original database," said Gerry Wyatt, LRC Director at Grace McWayne School.

Significant changes coming to PebbleGo this fall include compliance with Section 508 standards (U.S. Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973) and WCAG 2.0 AA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), ensuring it will be accessible to children with vision, cognitive, physical, and hearing disabilities. The database will also be mobile-responsive, providing students with access on their devices and improving their experience through intuitive touchscreen navigation.

PebbleGo Facts:

• On PebbleGo's launch day in 2009, the hippopotamus was the first animal researched. 
• In 2016, students cast over 100,000 virtual votes in PebbleGo Vote, a mock U.S. Presidential Election encouraging kids to learn about key civic concepts. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was named the winner of the mock election receiving 64% of the total vote.
• To date, users' most requested animal for the database is the narwhal, which was added in 2018.

All PebbleGo modules include expertly-levelled text, narrated by professional voice-over artists to provide essential scaffolds for emerging and struggling readers and English language learners. PebbleGo uses a streamlined interface, animated highlighting, educational videos and games, and activities which teach students how to cite articles, create reports, and share what they've learned. PebbleGo has over 1.7 billion lifetime page views and 661 million articles read, which equates to every K-2 student in the U.S. reading 58.5 articles.   

About Capstone
Capstone is a leading content creator for digital solutions, children's books, and literacy programs for school libraries, classrooms, and at home reading including the award-winning PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next research databases. www.CapstonePub.com #ReadingIsForEveryone

SOURCE Capstone

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