Does the use of Kahoot!

for content learning and review improve student

performance on assessments versus traditional paper study guides?

Vanessa M. Henderson and Sarah D. Russell

Spadoni College of Education, Coastal Carolina University

EDIT: 677 Assessment Technology & Learning Analytics

Dr. Joe Winslow

May 2,2022
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Does the use of Kahoot! for content learning and review improve student performance on

assessments versus traditional paper study guides?

Technology has changed our world, facilitating our daily home, work, and school lives.

Computers have taken over classrooms across the globe and changed how the brain learns.

Consequently, educators have had to adapt old, effective strategies to the new digitalized era.

Computer programmers and software designers have focused on creating educational programs

that facilitate and improve instruction. With the help of computers, students can learn and

practice old and new content. Likewise, teachers can use technology to instruct, reinforce,

remediate, and assess content.

Our research focuses on one specific educational program created to assist teachers in

engaging learners while helping them retain information. Many different websites and programs

have been widely used by instructors, such as Quizizz, Quizlet, and Kahoot!. Our goal is to

compare the effectiveness of one technology tool to a traditional one when used to review

content. We chose Kahoot! and paper as our main research matter. According to the Kahoot!

About Page, Kahoot! is a learning platform that makes it easy to create, share, and play learning

games that drive engagement. Kahoot! games can be played anywhere using any device with an

internet connection. (2022) With that in mind, our research focuses on the effectiveness of

Kahoot! in improving student engagement and learning performance. Does the use of Kahoot!

for content learning and review improve student performance on assessments versus traditional

paper study guides?

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Literature Review

Many different strategies can be implemented to review content before students are

assessed. Some teachers like to provide students with a study guide to help them focus on the

main content on which they will be tested. Before implementing digital technology in the

classroom, study guides were printed on paper. Nowadays, teachers can create study guides

through online digital tools that can be accessed anywhere through the world wide web. In recent

years, many teachers have chosen Kahoot! as their "go-to" review tool. Study guides are

gamified to engage students. Gamification is the process of "using game-based mechanics,

aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve

problems" (Kapp, 2012, p. 10). The Kahoot! platform allows teachers to transform traditional

study guides into interactive games. Current researchers have tried to analyze the effect of

Kahoot! on student performance.

Baszuk and Heath conducted an experimental learning exercise to learn if content

retention and student engagement improved with Kahoot!. They have found that their students'

grades increased due to the use of Kahoot! (2020). Allowing students to play the game a couple

of times encourages students to rethink questions that were missed. It also transforms classrooms

into a fun and engaging environment. (2020) After analyzing their students' performance in

Kahoot! study sessions, Baszuk and Heath decided to adapt and modify instruction within their

courses.

Owen and Licorish used Kahoot! to investigate the effectiveness of the game-based

student response systems (GSRs) as learning tools and their effect on knowledge retention

compared to traditional methods. They have found that the GSRs increased students' learning
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knowledge, attention, and engagement. However, some students pointed out that Kahoot! only

covered basic content, lacking rigor. Moreover, GSRs can be very distracting due to the nature of

games. (2020)

Wichadee and Pattanapichet used Kahoot! in the classroom to enhance performance and

motivation by applying digital games in an English language class. Their study focused on the

impact of Kahoot! on the learning and academic achievement of students in an ESL class versus

traditional methods. Kahoot! can stimulate learning, and language improvement can occur in a

fun learning environment (2018). The use of Kahoot! games also impacted learner motivation

(2018) due to the instant feedback students received, rather than waiting until a traditional

assessment was graded by hand and then returned to the student. The atmosphere of a gamified

classroom is considered competitive and fun. While using Kahoot! in the classroom, Wichadee

and Pattanapichet stressed to students that the purpose was to gain more than competition and

enjoyment but to learn something (2018).

In a study aimed to find an alternative learning strategy to help students' performance on

high-stake exams, Iwamoto, Hargis, Taitano, and Vuong measured whether using Kahoot! for

content review would help Phycology students improve high-stake test scores compared to

traditional studying methods. (2017) The results suggested that the use of Kahoot! for content

review had a significant impact on academic performance and test scores. The research also

points out the importance of applied learning, "Participants consistently expressed the need for

active reviewing, visual learning, and making the content meaningful to them by applying what

they learned to a form of experience." (p.88). In other words, GSRs improve student

engagement by making content relevant.

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Games like Kahoot! are the ideal choice for teaching because most students have easy

access to mobile devices and wifi, besides an affinity for video games. It adds fun to the

classroom, increasing comprehension and motivation. (Plump and Larosa, 2017)

Based on what we have learned from these research papers and observed in the

classroom, we hypothesize that the use of Kahoot! improves student engagement resulting in

better test scores.

Methodology

This research study took place in a small rural Title 1 school in South Carolina, in which

the minority student population is 73%. The teacher-student ratio is 16:1, and the student

population comprises 46% female students and 54% male students. The study was conducted

within three general education classes and one gifted-and-talented class. A total of 82 students

participated in this research. One experimental group had 39 participants, of which 21 were

females and 19 males (three students had IEPs), and the other group had 43 participants, of

which 24 were females and 19 males (one student had an IEP). We chose to use convenience

sampling rather than random. Two groups from each teacher had Kahoot! as a study guide, and

two groups used a traditional paper study guide. Both study guides contained the same questions

and answer choices. In order to facilitate analysis, the four participating groups were split into

two major study groups: the Kahoot! group and the traditional group. A mixed-method of study

was chosen to conduct the research. The quantitative data included average, median, and range.

The qualitative data were collected using a Google Form short answer survey question. For two

consecutive weeks, both teachers used the same content and instructional strategies to teach all

groups.
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Analysis

In order to limit the number of variables, both teachers used the same content and

instructional strategies to teach all participant groups.

When analyzing the quantitative data, we found no major differences between the

assessment scores of the Kahoot! group and the traditional group.

The following graph shows the data collected for the Kahoot! group:

The bar graph indicates the number of respondents and their points scored. The average

score for the Kahoot! group was 88.21 points out of 100. The scores ranged between 60 and 100

points.
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The following graph shows the data collected for the traditional group:

The bar graph indicates the number of respondents and their points scored. The average

score for the traditional group was 89.19 points out of 100. The scores ranged between 45 and

100 points.
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We noticed a slight but significant improvement in the lowest test scores when comparing

both graphics. The students who used Kahoot! study guides scored above the school-district

passing grade of 60%. On the other hand, the students who used traditional study guides scored

mostly above the passing grade of 60%, except for one who scored 45%. However, this could be

due to different extraneous variables such as students’ health, reading skills, and motivation.

However, there was no significant improvement in the average of the test scores, with a small

difference of only .98 points.

We observed that 96% of students prefer Kahoot! Study guides compared to 4% of

students who prefer traditional study guides.

We believe that our data is valid within the proposed academic learning exercise. As

mentioned above, we have tried to limit extraneous variables as much as possible; both

participating groups were instructed with the same content, resources, and strategies during the

same amount of time. However, we believe that for results to be considered 100% reliable, we

would have to conduct the same experiment with different groups of students, teachers, content,
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and strategies. For example, the results might not have been the same if the content was related

to mathematics..

Findings

After analyzing both the quantitative and qualitative data collected, we have concluded

that using Kahoot! as a learning tool improves students' assessment scores because students are

more engaged during the review lesson, as Kahoot! mimics a game-like competition. Gabe

Zimmerman states that games motivate and engage students due to the combination of intrinsic

reinforcement, the winner effect, and instant feedback. (2014). Kahoot! creates a learning

environment that is fun and captivating. So, unmotivated students tend to participate more and

consequently learn more. However, we cannot state that Kahoot! improves learning and

knowledge retention. Moreover, as mentioned in one of the researches cited in this paper, the

Kahoot! platform and interface limit the questions' depth of knowledge to recalling facts and

basic concepts.

We found that our results were consistent with the results of other researchers who

identified engagement as the primary reason for improving scores. In conclusion, the use of

Kahoot! does not improve assessment performance but improves student engagement.
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References

About Kahoot!: Company history & key facts. Kahoot! (2022, March 28). Retrieved May 1,

2022, from https://kahoot.com/company/

Baszuk, P. A., & Heath, M. L. (2020). Using Kahoot! to Increase Exam Scores and Engagement.

Journal of Education for Business, 95(8), 548–552.

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.

Kapp, K. M. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Case-based methods and

strategies for training and education. New York, NY: Pfeiffer

Owen, H. E., & Licorish, S. A. (2020). Game-Based Student Response System: The

Effectiveness of Kahoot! on Junior and Senior Information Science Students' Learning.

Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 19, 511–553.

Plump, C. M., & Larosa, J. (2017). Using Kahoot! in the classroom to create engagement and

active learning: A game-based technology solution for elearning novices. Management

Teaching Review, 2(2), 151–158.

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). General Writing FAQs. Purdue Online Writing Lab.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/general_writing_faqs.html

Wichadee, S., & Pattanapichet, F. (2018). Enhancement of Performance and Motivation through

Application of Digital Games in an English Language Class. Teaching English with

Technology, 18(1), 77–92.

Zichermann, G. (2014, February 25). The future of creativity and innovation is gamification:
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Gabe Zichermann at tedxvilnius. YouTube. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvRw71Slew&t=6s