Implementing Kahoot!

to Raise Test Scores

Introduction

It goes without saying that most students love technology, so what better way to help

students prepare for a test than with an interactive review game of Kahoot!. The thought of

utilizing this instructional technology raised the question Does using Kahoot for Social Studies

test review improve learner performance? I wanted to see if my students’ test scores improved

when the test review was in the form of the Kahoot! game versus a traditional study guide that

they completed. This year we began a new Social Studies curriculum in our 3rd grade classrooms.

We have noticed that our students are struggling to retain the information with the way it is

currently being taught. The curriculum includes articles that students have to read to learn the

information. We feel that students need extra tools to sufficiently understand and retain the

content. The constituents are a group of fifteen third graders in my Social Studies class.

Review of Literature

Before beginning the research, I reviewed scholarly literature to see what other intellects

had to say about this topic. The key findings from previous research helped guide and support

me when making decisions about implementing the technology and the possible outcomes.

The first article I reviewed by Baszuk and Heath (2020) was a study that was conducted

to test whether or not using Kahoot! in a college classroom would increase student engagement

and understanding, and ultimately, student test scores. The researchers wanted to compare

traditional college lecturing to a class that integrated Kahoot! as an instructional technology.

Kahoot! was used to review content and as a refresher tool to begin classes. This study found that

teaching with Kahoot! helped gain student attention, as well as improve learning engagement,

questioning, and exam grades. Additionally, the article describes changes to the course material

that were made to help student understanding as a result of the insights gained from using
Kahoot!. After reviewing this study, I felt I was supported in feeling that utilizing Kahoot! was a

beneficial move for my students.

Additionally, Bawa, P. (2019) held a study to explore if students had higher performance

outcomes when using a Kahoot! versus not, and to find out what learners found interesting and

challenging about this tool. Participants of the study were 96 undergraduate students in a

business class. Researchers used a mixed-methods approach to test their hypotheses. For seven

weeks leading up to the final exam of the course, Kahoot! was used with the experimental group.

The researchers explained that the motivation from using Kahoot! helped improve learner

performance. Findings from the study show that students in the experimental group had higher

final exam scores than that of the control group. This source helped me in deciding to get student

feedback about their feelings towards reviewing with Kahoot! in the form of a survey, which

would be used as qualitative data in my research.

Another scholarly piece of literature by Turan and Meral (2018), gave me great insight

when it came to my own research question about whether utilizing Kahoot! would increase test

scores versus a study guide. The study conducted in this source was to see the effects of online

student response systems both with and without being based on games. The study looked at

achievement, engagement, and test anxiety levels of students. The findings showed that the

group of students that used a game-based student response system (Kahoot!) had greater levels of

achievement and engagement and lower levels of test anxiety compared to the group of students

that used a mom-game-based student response system (Socratives).

Mays, Yeh, and Chen (2020) discuss a study that was conducted to examine the effects of

using an Audience Response System (Kahoot!) and Student-Generated Questions on the readings

comprehension of sixth grade English Language Learners. According to the study, the use of

Kahoot! creates a student-centered approach to learning that facilitates immediate feedback and

can reveal gaps in knowledge. Based on the collected data, researchers found that students
reading comprehension scores in the experimental group did not show significant differences

from the control group. However, students in the experimental group had much greater gains in

their frequency of collaboration. After reviewing the collected data results, I felt assured that

conducting this research wouldn’t hinder my students.

Iwamoto, Hargis, Taitano, and Vuong (2017) conducted research to see how students

tested when given Kahoot! quizzes during the last ten minutes of class rather than having the

lecture continue until the end. Results showed that using Kahoot! had a significant positive effect

on test scores. Using feedback provided by the groups, it was apparent that the more active the

learning process, the more the more effective the method proved to be. Using games in the

classroom to create a fun and engaging environment has shown to be effective in improving

academic performance. This article again solidified my decision in getting student feedback after

implementing Kahoot! to review.

After researching the articles based on my research question, my findings have shown

that by using Kahoot! for test reviews, learner performance will improve as long as the Kahoots

aren’t used in isolation but are combined with quality instructional design. The articles also

suggest that based on Kahoot! results, changes to course material in the future may be possible.

Also, immediate feedback reveals gaps in student understanding/learning and can guide more

purposeful instruction. The studies seem to support my research question and the key findings in

my own research were a positive outcome as well.

Methodology

I developed a plan to use the same group for my control group and experimental group.

While this would typically be discouraged, I had to think realistically. My research was

conducted on a group fifteen third grade students who range in ages eight to ten. In our school,

we do not switch classes for Social Studies, so I was unable to have my two groups separated.

Due to the age level of my constituents, only allowing half of the class to review with Kahoot!
was not an option. I also was unable to use prior years’ test scores as historical data for a couple

of very important reasons. One reason was because we implemented a new Social Studies

curriculum this year, so content is different and the other reason being how the pandemic

affected school and learning last year into this year.

My plan included to first introduce study guides as the review tool. Study guides were

sent home for students to complete and return on review day. Content was taught for three days,

review of the study guide was on day four and the assessment took place on day five. After the

first four weeks were up, Kahoot! was introduced as the review tool. The same timeline took

place for instruction, review, and assessments as when the study guide was being used.

Questions that were used on the study guide and Kahoot! were similarly structured to include

key concepts, vocabulary, and questions from the Studies Weekly unit.

To obtain quantitative data, I compared student test scores from their weekly assessments

during the weeks that the study guides were used and the weeks where Kahoot! was

implemented. Due to the hybrid model from the beginning of the year, it was the better choice to

compare data during the research period rather than compare test scores to the beginning of the

year. Delivery of the content looked very different and test scores wouldn’t be reliable for this

research.

To collect qualitative data to triangulate my study, I both observed my students and gave

student surveys. While observing my students, I looked to see how fast students were answering

questions and how focused they were on the assessments over the course of the research period.

When surveying students, feelings of the subject area where asked along with the feelings on test

scores and feeling prepared. Another survey was given to gather information about the feelings

toward using Kahoot!. The overwhelming response was just as I had hypothesized; that students

enjoy being on technology and having an interactive way of reviewing material and it was

increasing test scores.

Analysis
After reviewing multiple pieces of literature, implementing the study guides and Kahoots

and collecting quantitative and qualitative data, I began to analyze the data.

The first part of analyzing began with the quantitative data by reviewing test scores from

the weeks where the study guide was utilized and then compare them to the weeks where

Kahoot! was utilized. The data shows a remarkable difference in class averages. The table below

shows the class average for each week a Social Studies test was administered. The data in blue

are the weeks where students reviewed with a study guide. The data in red shows the weeks

where Kahoot! was used as the review tool.

CLASS
Study AVERAGES
Guide vs. Kahoot!
Class Averages

5) Findings - What did you learn from this investigation and what are the implications for your
professional practice? How do your findings relate to those reported in the literature? What
decisions have you made and what actions will you take?
85%
What additional questions
96% does your
85%
78% 73% 75% 80%
project raise that 61%
you would like to answer in future inquiry?

WEEK ONE WEEK TWO WEEK THREE WEEK FOUR WEEK FIVE WEEK SIX WEEK SEVEN WEEK EIGHT

The next part of analyzing came when I reviewed the student surveys and reflected on

class observations over the time period of the research. At the beginning of the research period, I

was able to observe that students seemed reliant on using their newspapers to find answers and

weren’t very confident in recalling the information. After Kahoot! was implemented students

seemed to use the newspapers as a way to check themselves after answering the questions. When

it came to the surveys, students were honest with their feelings of the subject Social Studies as

well as the gamified review for their tests. The charts below show the questions asked and how

students answered.
 Analyzing this data shows that more students felt confident and prepared for their test

after reviewing with Kahoot!. This was supported with the classroom observations I made with

how students were taking their tests and using their resources during the assessments.

Findings
What I learned from this investigation was that students performed better on assessments

when they reviewed with the instructional technology tool Kahoot!. This is consistent with the

study from Baszuk and Heath (2020). I also learned that my findings were consistent with those

of Turan and Meral (2018). Students felt less anxious and more prepared and confident when

taking their tests after a gamified review. Reflecting on these findings from my research has

allowed me to reflect and make changes to my current methods of teaching. It has given me the
scientific evidence that reviewing material in a game like review, will help my students stay

engaged and aid in the comprehension process of the material. It was also evident and supported

that students enjoy this form of reviewing, which is consistent with the findings from the study

of Bawa, P. (2019). Implementing a gamified review with an instructional technology tool such

as Kahoot! was beneficial for students in many ways. Students felt more confident, more

prepared and had fun while getting ready for their upcoming assessments. The student surveys

also show that some students do prefer the use of study guides, so going forward I intend to

utilize both forms of review in order to accommodate all students.

Works Cited

Baszuk, P. A., & Heath, M. L. (2020). Using Kahoot! to Increase Exam Scores and Engagement.
Journal of Education for Business, 95(8), 548–552.

Bawa, P. (2019). Using Kahoot to Inspire. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 47(3),
373–390.

Iwamoto, D. H., Hargis, J., Taitano, E. J., & Vuong, K. (2017). Analyzing the Efficacy of the
Testing Effect Using Kahoot™ on Student Performance. Turkish Online Journal of Distance
Education, 18(2), 80–93.

Mays, B. R., Yeh, H.-C., & Chen, N.-S. (2020). The Effects of Using Audience Response
Systems Incorporating Student-Generated Questions on EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension.
Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 29(6), 553–566.

Turan, Z., & Meral, E. (2018). Game-Based versus to Non-Game-Based: The Impact of Student
Response Systems on Students’ Achievements, Engagements and Test Anxieties. Informatics in
Education, 17(1), 105–116.