Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 18, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how sims.science (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website and educational simulations. If you are a student, parent, or guardian, please see the sections on FERPA and COPPA below for your specific rights.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Analytics Data

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how users interact with our site. When you visit our website and provide consent, we may collect information including:

Your IP address (anonymized)
Browser type and version
Pages you visit and the time spent on those pages
General location data (such as country or city)
Device information

1.2 Student Account Data

When a student account is created, we may collect:

Email address — Required for authentication via magic-link.
Display name — Shown in class rosters and teacher dashboards.
Birth year — Collected solely for age verification under COPPA §312.5. Used only to determine whether the user is under 13; never used for marketing or profiling.
School and class enrollment — Provided by the teacher to organize students into instructional groups.

1.3 Server Log Data

Our servers automatically log certain information for security and debugging purposes, including:

Request path and method
HTTP status code
Client IP address (used for rate limiting and abuse detection)
Request duration

Server logs are retained for 30 days.

2. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our website and hold certain information.

Analytics Cookies: We use Google Analytics to analyze traffic. By default, these cookies are disabled. They will only be placed on your device if you explicitly click “Accept” on our consent banner.
Cookieless Pings: If you decline cookies or have not yet made a choice, Google Analytics operates in Consent Mode. It may send basic, anonymous “cookieless pings” to model traffic patterns without storing any personal data or identifying you across sessions.
Local Storage: The ScienceEd interaction tracker and consent banner use browser local storage to remember your preferences and session token. This data stays on your device and is not transmitted to third parties.

3. How We Use Your Information

The information we collect is used solely to:

Understand how visitors use the website.
Improve the design, content, and functionality of our simulations and pages.
Enable educational analytics that help teachers track student progress.
Provide adaptive learning features that adjust content based on user progress.
Ensure the site is working correctly across different devices and browsers.
Maintain security and prevent abuse (via rate limiting and IP logging).

We do not sell, rent, or share personal information for advertising or marketing purposes. We do not serve behavioral advertisements.

4. Student Data and Educational Analytics

The ScienceEd platform collects anonymous interaction data to improve our educational simulations and enable adaptive learning features.

What data is collected: When you interact with a simulation, we may collect:

event_type — The type of interaction (e.g., simulation load, button click, slider change, answer submission)
event_name — A descriptive name for the specific event
event_value — A JSON object containing contextual data about the interaction (e.g., slider value, canvas coordinates, selected tab)
client_ts — The client-side timestamp of the interaction

No personal information: The simulation tracking system does not collect your name, email address, IP address, or any other personally identifiable information. All data is captured under an anonymous session token that cannot be linked to your identity without explicit account authentication.

Purpose: This data is used exclusively for educational analytics, including:

Understanding how students interact with simulations to improve instructional design
Identifying common learning pathways and misconceptions
Enhancing adaptive learning features that adjust content based on user progress
Providing teachers with aggregate class progress data

Data storage: Interaction data is stored on our self-hosted infrastructure at api.sims.science. It is not shared with third parties.

Opt-out: You can disable the ScienceEd interaction tracker by:

Using browser privacy features or extensions that block JavaScript from specific origins
Disabling JavaScript in your browser settings (note: this may affect simulation functionality)
Clearing your browser’s local storage for this site, which resets the session token and stops ongoing tracking

5. Data Retention Periods

We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy.

Data Type	Retention Period
Student account data (email, display name, birth year, enrollment)	Retained while account is active. Upon deletion request, soft-deleted for 30 days, then permanently anonymized.
Raw session and event interaction data	3 years after the student’s last recorded activity.
Aggregated, anonymized analytics	Indefinitely, for longitudinal educational research.
Google Analytics data	26 months (automatic deletion).
Server access logs (including IP addresses)	30 days.
Teacher action records	5 years (FERPA audit trail requirement).

When an account is deleted, we remove or anonymize all associated personal data. A 30-day soft-delete window allows account recovery upon request; after 30 days, personal data is permanently anonymized.

6. Your Choices and Rights

You have the right to accept or decline the use of analytics cookies.

Accepting: Grants permission to use cookies for detailed, anonymized tracking.
Declining: Blocks cookies. We will only receive basic, unidentifiable traffic data.

You can change your preferences at any time by clearing this site’s entry in your browser’s local storage (not cookies), which will prompt the consent banner to appear again. In most browsers you can do this via Developer Tools → Application → Local Storage.

6.2 Account Deletion

Students may request deletion of their account at any time. Upon confirmation, the account enters a 30-day soft-delete window, after which personal data is permanently anonymized. To request deletion, use the account settings within the platform or contact us using the information in Section 13.

7. FERPA Rights for Students and Parents

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) affords parents and eligible students (students who have reached 18 years of age or attend a postsecondary institution) certain rights with respect to educational records.

7.1 Right to Inspect and Review

You have the right to inspect and review the student’s educational records within 45 days of the day we receive a request for access. To request access, please contact us using the information in Section 13. We will make arrangements for access and notify you of the time and place where the records may be inspected.

7.2 Right to Request Amendment

You have the right to request amendment of educational records that you believe are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights. To request an amendment:

Submit a written request to us identifying the record you believe is inaccurate.
Specify why you believe it is inaccurate.
We will decide whether to amend the record within a reasonable time.
If we decide not to amend the record, we will notify you of your right to a hearing and to submit a statement for inclusion in the record.

You have the right to provide written consent before we disclose personally identifiable information from educational records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. Exceptions include disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests and to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena.

7.4 Directory Information Opt-Out

We may designate the following as directory information, which may be disclosed without prior written consent unless you opt out:

Student display name
Class enrollment
Grade level

If you wish to opt out of directory information disclosure, please contact us in writing at the address in Section 13.

7.5 Right to File a Complaint

You have the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by sims.science to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov

8. COPPA — Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

We are committed to protecting children’s privacy in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) (15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506).

8.1 Age Verification

When a student creates an account, we collect the student’s birth year for age verification purposes. This information is used solely to determine whether the user is under 13 years of age and is never used for marketing, profiling, or any other purpose. Our age verification mechanism is implemented in accordance with COPPA §312.5.

If the student is 13 or older, the account is created with full functionality.
If the student is under 13, the account is created in a pending_consent status. Certain platform features are restricted until verifiable parental consent is obtained.

For students under 13, we require verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information. Our consent process works as follows:

The student provides their birth year during account creation.
If the student is under 13, the account enters pending_consent status.
We send an email to the parent/guardian with a consent request.
The parent/guardian provides consent through one of the FTC-approved methods (email consent form with a verifiable signature, video conference, or government ID verification).
Upon verified consent, the student’s account is activated.
Parents may revoke consent at any time, which will result in deletion of the child’s personal information.

8.3 Information Collected from Children

We collect the following personal information from children under 13:

Email address — Required for account authentication.
Display name — Used within the educational platform.
Birth year — Used only for age verification.
Educational interaction data — Anonymous interaction data (event type, name, value, and timestamp) used for educational analytics. This data does not contain personally identifiable information.

8.4 Parental Rights

Under COPPA §312.6, parents have the right to:

Review their child’s personal information by contacting us (see Section 13).
Refuse further collection or use of their child’s personal information.
Delete their child’s personal information and account.
Revoke consent at any time.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 13.

We do not disclose children’s personal information to third parties except:

Sentry — For error tracking. A before_send PII filter strips all personal information (email addresses, IP addresses, JWT tokens) from error events before transmission, in accordance with FERPA §99.30 and COPPA §312.8.
Google Analytics — Operates in Consent Mode and only collects anonymized, aggregate data from users who have explicitly accepted cookies. No personal information of children is shared with Google.
As required by law — To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena.

We maintain contractual data processing agreements with all third-party processors that include FERPA and COPPA compliance obligations.

8.6 Data Security

We maintain reasonable security measures to protect children’s personal information, including:

Encrypted database connections
Authenticated API access with JWT tokens
Role-based access controls (teachers can only access their own students)
PII-filtered error reporting via Sentry
Regular security audits

9. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

Sentry (Functional Software Inc.) — Error tracking and application monitoring. Sentry receives error traces and request metadata from our backend. A before_send PII filter strips email addresses, IP addresses, and JWT tokens before transmission. We have a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with Sentry covering FERPA and COPPA data handling.
GitHub Pages (GitHub, Inc.) — Website hosting. Our site is served via GitHub Pages’ content delivery network. GitHub may have access to request metadata (IP address, browser type, requested URL) as part of standard CDN operations. GitHub does not have access to student account data or educational interaction records.
Google Analytics (Google LLC) — Anonymous traffic analysis. Google Analytics operates in Consent Mode v2: ad_storage, ad_user_data, and ad_personalization are all denied by default. No behavioral advertising data is collected or shared with Google. We have a DPA in place with Google as required by GDPR.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

11. A Note to Children and Teens

Hi! We want you to understand how your data is used.

We collect information to help you learn. When you use our science simulations, we track things like which simulations you use and what answers you choose. This helps us make the simulations better for everyone.
We don’t sell your information. We never share your data for advertising.
Your teacher can see your progress. If you’re part of a class, your teacher can see how you’re doing in the simulations.
Ask your parent or guardian if you have questions. If you’re under 13, we need your parent’s permission before you can use the platform with an account. That’s to protect your privacy.
You can ask us to delete your data at any time. Just talk to your teacher or contact us using the information below.

If you have questions about privacy, you can also talk to your parent, guardian, or teacher — they can help explain things.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Last updated” date at the top. For significant changes affecting student data or parental rights, we will provide direct notification to parents and/or school administrators.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights under FERPA or COPPA, please contact us:

Email: contactsciencesimulations@gmail.com
Data Protection Officer: privacy@sims.science
FERPA/COPPA Inquiries: contactsciencesimulations@gmail.com

For FERPA complaints, you may also contact the Family Policy Compliance Office at the U.S. Department of Education (see Section 7.5).