Kahoot Quiz
Last
semester in EDUC 350 I had to log 40 hours of observation time in various
classrooms. One 5th grade class I observed had a Google chrome book
cart and all the children were excited to do a Kahoots Quiz. I was really
impressed about what Kahoots could do and the teacher told me all about it.
Kahoots allows her to make a quiz, survey, or even flash cards to test the
knowledge of the class. The way it test the students isn’t just a standard
multiple-choice test that is protected onto the screen. Kahoots makes
everything feel like a game. Each of the students partnered up and shared a
Chrome Book. Their first step was to come up with a creative username that they
can both agree on and is appropriate. Then the teacher can start the quiz when
all the students had made a username and are ready to go. The teacher can
either make a quiz really fast when they are making a username or start a
premade quiz. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up the quiz. The quiz
rewards you for getting the answer right and also for doing it fast. It
penalizes people that just click on a multiple-choice option right away. At the
end of each question it shows the top five players points and their creative
username. Once the kids see their name on the leader boards they get really
excited and feel like they are accomplishing something. I have never seen a
class so excited to do math before. I was really impressed.
I
feel like the best way to implement a Kahoots quiz is when you just finished a
topic and you want to check where everyone’s level of understating is in a fun
way. It only takes about fifteen minutes and does seem too hard to set up.
Kahoots quizzes also work on smart phones and tablets so if you don’t have
enough computers a student could pull out his phone and be just as effective.
A
disadvantage to using Kahoots is that when I was observing I noticed kids were
being really rowdy and getting distracted with what there neighbors were doing.
The teacher would have to threaten to shut down the quiz to keep them all
settled. It also possible a child could use an inappropriate username and
everyone would be able to see that.
How it Works
https://getkahoot.com/how-it-works
Kahoot Quiz in College Setting
How it Works
https://getkahoot.com/how-it-works
Kahoot Quiz in College Setting
Kahoot Quiz in Elementary Setting
As a review game, Kahoot! can potentially help students meet the standards because the questions teacher's ask will be Common Core-aligned questions about the content student's are studying. I took a look at the Kahoot! website, and one characteristic I found interesting was the ability to pause in between questions to discuss answers that are given to help students better process the questions and answers. As a terrible test taker, I really believe that technology like Kahoot! will help students dive deeper to explain their thinking on an answer, which helps with their overall communication and critical thinking skills.
ReplyDeleteLike the students in the 5th grade class you observe, students will develop self-confidence and an appreciation for test-taking.
I had never heard of Kahoot, but it's always nice to see students get excited about learning. It seems like the Kahoot's quiz did just that. Assessing how well the class grasped the concept is important for the teacher, in order to move on to further lessons/discussion. I’ve never heard of anyone excited about regular class quizzes, so to turn it into a game is brilliant. The fact that students do it online gives them more exposure to technology. However, since you stated that some of the students do get rowdy and distracted, I think it would be beneficial for a teacher using Kahoots to teach responsibility when using the devices, and to respect the learning process for all of their classmates.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, great job writing about Kahoot! I've never heard of it until today, so thank you. You made it seem like it is a really beneficial tool and I might try it out in my classroom to test the students' knowledge and have healthy competition. I also took EDUC 350 last semester and observed in a classrooms for 40 hours. One of the teachers had a program similar to this but I noticed that the kids who finished early would be messing around and the teacher didn't do anything. He simply would write a problem on his screen, send it out, and then the class would solve it. He didn't even go around the room to see if anyone needed help. Maybe this teacher was just lazy and didn't really care about what his students were doing, but maybe when teachers use programs like this they take advantage of them. That is just my opinion though. I think a healthy dosage of programs like this and teachers hard work would make an excellent combination.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike!
Sarah Thompson
Kahoot is really great! I've also personally seen it used in the classroom and I think it really gets students excited about the topic and ends up being very educational. It turns learning in to a fun game. If teachers have the privilege to have this available for their students I think it is a great tool however at a lot of schools they probably don't have the funding to provide tablets, computers or any devices for the students to use in order to participate. With that said I think this would be most effective for older students who either have their own devices, or go to schools possible colleges that can provide these devices and avoid the issue of inappropriate names or foul play.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Very cool you got to see this in a classroom setting Michael!
ReplyDeleteI think its a really smart idea, and if it gets students excited and working together on math then that is always a good thing. I wonder how this type of technology would work in a middle school, because I think students look to push the boundaries more than elementary age kids and would look to put inappropriate names as their usernames or waste time. I am sure the teacher could assign names to those students who could not be trusted.
I hope that when I am teaching there is awesome technology like this at my disposal.
thanks for your post!
I too observed a classroom last semester where a classroom was using a Kahoots quiz. My first thought when observing, was how can the teacher be sure that the students are going to be using their phones for the quiz and not for something else. However the students all really seemed into the quiz, probably because as you said it makes it feel like a game. I agree with what you said as your disadvantage, Kahoots does provide an easy way for students to get distracted. However, Kahoots seems like a resourceful tool for teachers to use to help their students study.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Michael! I had never heard oh Kahoot before but it sounds like a great thing to have in the classroom. After looking at a video of what it would like like for the teacher and student, I was reminded of iclickers. I have had a couple classes where we use those were used for taking quizzes. I like the idea with Kahoot better though because you can use any device you already have. For example, iPhones or tablets. It looks like it can keep students engaged and make taking quizzes fun. You posted some great pictures and I thought it interesting that educators use it in a college setting as well! I agree with you that it may be distracting at times, as you saw in the classroom you observed, but still think it's a great tool. As long as the teachers can keep the students in check, I think it's a great way to take quizzes and a great way to track the improvement of your class as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great option for the students. It accomplished what the teacher is doing which is getting her students to understand what he/she is teaching them. Allowing these fun quizzes takes the pressure off the students and allows them to have fun while learning. This is a great idea for kids who suffer from test anxiety. It also seems very easy to use. Its accessible on almost all devices which allows for a greater use of the quiz because lets face it, almost everyone has a smartphone or some type of tablet.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great option for the students. It accomplished what the teacher is doing which is getting her students to understand what he/she is teaching them. Allowing these fun quizzes takes the pressure off the students and allows them to have fun while learning. This is a great idea for kids who suffer from test anxiety. It also seems very easy to use. Its accessible on almost all devices which allows for a greater use of the quiz because lets face it, almost everyone has a smartphone or some type of tablet.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
ReplyDeleteKahoot Quiz sounds great. It is important that we as future teachers spark a student’s interest in education. What student in the elementary grades doesn’t want to play a game during school lesson time. I am looking into teaching elementary grades so Kahoot will definitely stay on my list as a possibility. Kahoot can be used as a tool for motivation in the classroom for example the students can expect to play a Kahoot game at the end of the week and this would encourage them to study the content that is being taught further so they have more chances of accumulating points during the game. I also like that Kahoot recognizes automatic guessing for this would help children keep away from just responding as fast as they can just as some children do so to finish a test on time or as fast as they can. A set back to Kahoot though would be the need for technology devices for every student in the classroom as we know that many schools are underfunded. Thank you for sharing this tool with us Michael.
I have never heard about Kahoots before your post and it sounds great. I like that you brought up the pros and cons to this program. I think this would be great to use but only as a “review” activity and not an actual quiz. I also lie the idea of being able to work in pairs so that students have the opportunity to share with one another. It is also wonderful that this app monitors how fast students are clicking on the answer to avoid them just clicking on random answers.
ReplyDelete