Over dinner during a recent visit to Texas, my 7th grade grandsontold me how well he had done on his science test that day. “How did you study for the test?,” I asked. He explained that the teacher used a program called
Kahoot to help the class review the previous day.
Kahoot is a free quiz creator. Using
Kahoot the teacherprepares a quiz by creating any number of questions and multiple choice answers. Each student logs onto
Kahoot from his/her smartphone, tablet, or computer and selects a user name. The teacher administers the quiz by displaying each question, one at a time, at the front of the room with the multiple choices; e.g., on a Smartboard or perhaps by using a projector attached to a computer. The students choose their answer on their device. Following each question, a graph pops up indicating how many students answered correctly.
After dinner, our evening activity was trying out
Kahoot. First Jake, then grandma, and then brother Charlie took turns creatinga quiz for the other players. We all agreed it was engaging, requiring fast thinking, knowledge, and quick hands. The soundtrack and immediate results added a level of excitement.
When I asked Jake what he liked about Kahoot, he said it was fun and helped him learn (i.e., “I do better on the test). The competitive aspect was a motivator for him and his middle school peers. His teacher mixes it up by also using
Quizlet and
Pinterest, but Jake prefers Kahoot.
There are ways to make the program more accessible for struggling students. While four multiple choice questions are standard, a test creator could reduce the number of questions to two or three. The amount of time that the multiple choice answers are shown can also be increased or decreased, as needed.
I was imagining a classroom scene where a teacher could have stations, with small groups of students taking the quiz in different locations in the classroom. There could be modifications based on student need; some students with more or fewer questions, longer or shorter time to see the question and answer choices. However, this would require that the teacher’s starting point was a clear identification of core goals—what all students need to know and be able to do to be college and career ready in a certain subject.
Kahoot could be one more tool to add to a teacher’s repertoire for formative assessment. It could help teachers understand what needs deeper teacher to help students succeed. Check out the
ELA and
Math Formative Assessment pages on
PowerUp WHAT WORKS for other tools and strategies.