Kahoot!

: How it Can Create Balance in the Classroom 1

Kahoot!: How It Can Create Balance in the Classroom

Jan A. Zimmermann
Fresno Pacific University: CE Connect
Kahoot!: How it Can Create Balance in the Classroom 2

Balance. Whether it’s acrobat performers at the circus, living within a budget; or, creating a
harmonious classroom environment, balance is infused into and necessary in so many aspects
of our lives. The Decoded Company model has great appeal; and, they propose that by
following this model, it is almost guaranteed certainty that engagement will improve. It is also
maintained, by several sources, that with more engagement, there is more learning,
investment, and productivity. It is through their data-driven concept that I feel Kahoot!; and,
what I’ve learned to do with it, has a very suitable home from which a balanced, data-driven,
innovative curriculum may evolve, flourish; and, blossom for and with our students. (Decoded
Company, 2015)
It begins with student-centric teaching where high-interest content along with collaboration
and reflection are highly encouraged to mix-and-mingle. However, balancing explicit
instruction, a necessary part of the solution to ensure every student achieves, with student-
centered learning can be a challenging task to do well. Determining the proper balance of
freedom and control, although daunting, may be eased through intentional planning and
curation of useful data. As a teaching tool, Kahoot!, at least in my classroom, has been
undervalued and underutilized. We know how important it is to know our students’ interests
so that we know what motivates them; this may be discovered through back-to-school surveys.
And, although useful to know at the beginning of the year, some of the information gathered
may be a bit on the surface. So why not dig deeper, use surveys on a regular basis to harvest
valuable nuggets of understanding (or not) as well as where your students’ hearts are with
regard to what they’re learning or would like to learn. As I created my Kahoot! icebreaker for
one of the module assignments, it struck me that there are so many things that I’ve asked my
students (and myself) to just accept; have we become complacent? Am I okay with having my
students think that they have no control over their middle-school experience and they had just
better get used to it because their voice and opinion really doesn’t matter? I guess what I’m
trying to say is that I want to hear them in a new way; and, I believe that I can push them to
reflect about the world around them through this tool, Kahoot!. Another bonus to surveys is
allowing students to express themselves and be, perhaps, a bit more anonymous while doing
so. In fact, putting them in charge of creating their own Kahoot questions will not only be
student centered, but will reinforce their understand without feeling like a lesson.
“Experiential learning is an important aspect of the student-centered classroom…involving
cooperation and collaboration.” (Saxena, 2013) The best way we learn is through experience.
One of my daughters is learning to drive right now. She read the DMV handbook, she
completed the 30 hours of online coursework; and, she has listened and watched her parents
advise her while she was a passenger; however, it wasn’t until she got behind wheel that things
began to make sense to her. She is much more observant and is completely engaged in the
learning process of driving, something that wouldn’t happen if she wasn’t doing it herself.
Likewise, students want to do things they feel are important and worth their time which is why
Kahoot!: How it Can Create Balance in the Classroom 3

sourcing information from them using Kahoot! may be one of the smartest teaching practices I
know. A “comprehensive environment, focused on students’ interests……is a key feature of
imparting effective instruction”. When we (teachers) can ask questions that lead to problem-
solving solutions, students’ natural curiosity and interest is nurtured. (Saxena, 2016) An
aspect in my own instructional practices that I have failed, is to (consistently) budget time for
student reflection. Kahoot! actually has a feature that is embedded at the end, but I’d like to be
more deliberate and insert reflection questions or checks for understanding within Kahoot!
games to not only use as informal assessment, but to help facilitate class discussions. “Students
learn from each other” (Alber, 2015) so, any time I can have students hearing other student
voices rather than my own, there will be more opportunities for engagement. “Students see
their success is dependent on contributions, inclusion, and success of other students in the
group” (CTE-Lilly, n.d.) which is why collaboration must be an integral part of any classroom.
Students are held accountable, given time and opportunity to exchange ideas, and shared by
each student, contributing to the success of the team. Discussions, whether whole class or
student-pairs, are essentials of collaborative learning in a student-centric classroom. Seems as
though the Kahoot! designers have thought of this as well through their Team Mode. Using this
mode of play will accomplish a variety of things: shy, less confident students are empowered
and strengthened by their team; students gather and share ideas on a topic, explaining and
defending their views; and, it brings safe, friendly competition to maintain engagement
amongst players. (CTE-Lilly, n.d.)
One of the most powerful and surprising finds during this course was learning how to use both
Blind and Ghost modes; both with such potentially beneficial uses that I don’t know why I
wasn’t using it all along. With a thoughtfully designed Blind Kahoot!, content may be rolled out
to students in a new and exciting way. I love the idea of leveling the playing field when
questions are designed so that…a relatively easy conceptual question is given and then
reintroduce the same concept later with more complexity; “learning is reinforced when the
student has an opportunity to apply their new understanding…applying what they learned in a
meaningful way.” (Smith and Brauer, 2018) That being said, other ways to support learners is
by using some standard tools such as bold text to highlight or focus on the most important part
of a question; use a picture or video that provides a clue to the answer; or, adjust the response
time students are given to answer a question. Then, whether it’s for practicing to improve
personal scores, or challenging other classes or admin, Ghost mode allows you to retake prior
Kahoot sessions which may be assigned as homework for individual student practice; or, for
even more fun, send as a challenge to parents, admin, teachers, or even other classes. This
brings that sense of competition through gaming to the next level! I am so excited to roll this
out with my kiddos; I am sure they will come up with some great ideas.
Regardless of my learning targets, students need and deserve variety and high interest topics
presented through careful and intentional lesson design. If I’m doing my best practices,
students can do theirs; and, Kahoot! allows me to do that for them….it’s all about balance.
Kahoot!: How it Can Create Balance in the Classroom 4

REFERENCES:

Alber, Rebecca (February 27, 2015) 5 Highly effective teaching practices. Retrieved
from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-highly-effective-teaching-practices-rebecca-alber
CTE-Lilly (no date) Group work and collaborative learning: best practices. Retrieved
from http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GroupWork.pdf
Decoded Company, The (May, 2015) How technology eats bureaucracy. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Onot8WUK0
Saxena, Saomya (November 22, 2013) Best classroom practies for student-centric
teaching. Retrieved from http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/775-best-
classroom-practices-for-student-centric-teaching

Smith, Aaron and Brauer, Shane (2015) Use of Kahoot! game for increased student
motivation and understanding in a thermodynamics course. Retrieved from
http://www.asee-se.org/proceedings/ASEE2018/papers2018/123.pdf