The effect of using Kahoot! for learning – A literature review

In the paper

“The results of the experiment showed that the group using Kahoot!performed significantly better on the post-test (67.39 for Kahoot! and 58.70 for Socrative), which is statistically significant (p ¼ .030).”

What the sources say

• Partly supported

  The achievement-results section reports the stated post-test means (67.39 for Kahoot and 58.70 for Socrative) and significant difference (p = .030). The Study Group and Method sections confirm a quasi-experiment with 46 students in Turkey, but they identify the participants as seventh-graders, not eighth-graders. (LLM, conf=0.94)

  cites Turan & Meral, 2018 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured

In the paper

“At the same time, student anxiety can be decreased through having the option to be anonymous both to fellow students and the teacher through the use of nicknames”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Lee et al., 2019 source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Susanti, 2017
• Partly supported

  The Results section reports lower test-anxiety scores for students using the game-based response system than for those using the non-game-based system. The Discussion suggests engagement and other possible explanations, but our copy does not link the reduction to anonymity from classmates or the teacher, or mention nicknames (searched: anonymous, nicknames, anonymity). (LLM, conf=0.87)

  cites Turan & Meral, 2018 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured

In the paper

“students using Kahoot!were significantly more engaged than students using Socrative (Turan & Meral, 2018)”

What the sources say

• Supported

  The Study Group and Implementation Process sections identify Kahoot as the game-based system and Socrative as the comparison system. The engagement results section reports significantly higher post-test engagement scores for the Kahoot group (4.130 versus 3.762; p = .028). Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.94)

  cites Turan & Meral, 2018 source

In the paper

“Only one study, with 15 pre-service teachers in Biology education in Turkey, included a statistical analysis of the results related to teachers' perception of the use of Kahoot! (Yapıcı & Karakoyun, 2017).”

What the sources say

• Partly supported

  The Participants section identifies 15 preservice biology teachers, and Data Collection Tools says the study examined their views of Kahoot. But Data Analysis and Findings obtained via the motivation scale show that the Wilcoxon statistical test assessed motivation scores; views were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and reported with frequencies. This paper also cannot establish that it was the only such study. (LLM, conf=0.87)

  cites Yapıcı & Karakoyun, 2017 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured

In the paper

“In a study comparing the use of the student response system Socrative with Kahoot! among 46 seventh graders in Turkey, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in the anxiety scores for Kahoot!compared to Socrative (p ¼ .014)(Turan & Meral, 2018).”

What the sources say

• Supported

  The Study Group section identifies 46 seventh-grade students in Turkey, with 23 using Kahoot and 23 using Socrative. Table 6 reports a statistically significant difference in test-anxiety scores between the groups (p = .014), with lower scores in the Kahoot group. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.94)

  cites Turan & Meral, 2018 source

In the paper

“This stage of the game creates a suspension that can increase enjoyment, motivation, and concentration”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Chaiyo & Nokham, 2017 source
• Partly supported

  The paper’s Final considerations report that students found Kahoot fun and that it increased attention and motivation; Best practices in Kahoot use also says short quizzes kept students motivated. But How Kahoot works describes immediate feedback after each question, not suspense created by withholding correct answers until everyone responds. The paper does not link that specific stage to enjoyment, motivation, or concentration. (LLM, conf=0.85)

  cites Cutri et al., 2016 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites de Sousa, 2018

In the paper

“However, there are also studies where Kahoot! has little or no effect.”

In the paper

“Since the platform was released in 2013, there have been published many studies on the effect of using Kahoot! in the classroom, but so far, there has not been any analysis of the results published by these studies at large.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“As the figure shows, there has been a noticeable increase in published studies on Kahoot!since the first two published in 2015 (Kahoot! was released to the public in September 2013).”

In the paper

“In this literature review, we found in total forty-eight studies that investigated the learning outcome of using Kahoot! in education (not counting the excluded papers).”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“The literature review includes 93 studies, and the main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning performance, classroom dynamics, students' and teachers' attitudes, and students' anxiety.”

In the paper

“Twelve of these studies compared traditional teaching to Kahoot! used in combination with other tools in the context of flipped classrooms, game-based learning, blended learning, and technology-supported learning.”

In the paper

“However, these studies do not explicitly describe how Kahoot!contributed to improving the learning outcome.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“All these studies show improved academic results for the non-traditional teaching approaches where Kahoot! was used as one of the tools.”

In the paper

“The literature review includes 93 studies, and the main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning performance, classroom dynamics, students' and teachers' attitudes, and students' anxiety.”

In the paper

“The literature review includes 93 studies, and the main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning performance, classroom dynamics, students' and teachers' attitudes, and students' anxiety.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“The literature review includes 93 studies, and the main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning performance, classroom dynamics, students' and teachers' attitudes, and students' anxiety.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“The main challenges mentioned by students include technical problems such as unreliable internet connections, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, not being able to change answer after submission, stressful time-pressure for giving answers, not enough time to answer, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.”

In the paper

“The literature review includes 93 studies, and the main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning performance, classroom dynamics, students' and teachers' attitudes, and students' anxiety.”

In the paper

“Similarly, medium achievement and novice learners at a High School in Taiwan learning Chinese had a significant improvement on a post-test using Kahoot!compared to other groups (p < .028)(Y.-H.Wang, 2017aWang, , 2017b)).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Y.-H.Wang, 2017a
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Y.-H.Wang, 2017b

In the paper

“In an experiment in an Information Technology course, Kahoot! did not result in a significantly improved learning effect compared to using a paper quiz and the Clicker student response system (Wang et al., 2016).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wang et al., 2016

In the paper

“Sixty-four percent of the studies on learning effect from Kahoot! in our review describes experiments where the effect of Kahoot! was compared to traditional teaching.”

In the paper

“An Austrian study of a C-programming course where 60 students participated showed that the grades improved 12% when using Kahoot! in the context of a flipped classroom (Dolezal, Posekany, Motschnig, Kirchweger, & Pucher, 2018).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Dolezal, Posekany, Motschnig, Kirchweger, & Pucher, 2018

In the paper

“We found twenty studies with experiments that showed a statistically significant increase in learning from using Kahoot! in classroom teaching.”

In the paper

“Our literature review also found other articles without any statistical analysis that reports improved learning from Kahoot!”

In the paper

“All studies that include statistical significance tests and effect sizes support this conclusion.”

In the paper

“Our literature review discovered two studies that compared the learning effect of using group discussions vs. using Kahoot! in class.”

In the paper

“The post-test in quasi-experiment in Taiwan with 44 students in an English course showed that the experimental group using Kahoot!had an average score of 86.18 compared to 77.45 for the control group not using Kahoot!(p ¼ .007,effect size large) (Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a, 2017b).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a, 2017b

In the paper

“Similarly, the results of a quasi-experiment with 67 university students in Greece learning electric circuits showed that the experimental group scored 59.93% vs. 51.72%for the control group (p ¼ .001)(Tsihouridis, Vavougios, & Ioannidis, 2017).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Tsihouridis, Vavougios, & Ioannidis, 2017

In the paper

“Three of these studies focused on how the use of Kahoot! in flipped classrooms improved learning.”

In the paper

“An experiment with 96 students at Purdue University in the USA where Kahoot! was used over seven weeks, found that the experimental group did significantly better on the final exam (79.56 for the experimental group vs. 56.83for the control group) (p < .0001,effect size large) (Bawa, 2018).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Bawa, 2018

In the paper

“One example is a quasiexperiment where the students were exposed to technology-supported learning using PowToon, Blendspace, and Kahoot!performed significantly better on average test scores in the course (p < .02)than for those who had traditional teaching (Sarkar, Ford, & Manzo, 2017).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Sarkar, Ford, & Manzo, 2017

In the paper

“Seventy percent of studies with statistical significance tests on learning effect show that Kahoot!significantly improves the final grade or test results compared to other teaching approaches.”

In the paper

“Finally, the final exam scores of a business course with 96 students were, on average, 79.56 for students who were taught using Kahoot!compared to 56.83 for students having traditional teaching (p < .0001,effect size large) (Bawa, 2017).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Bawa, 2017

In the paper

“Similarly, another quasi-experiment on using Kahoot! in a flipped classroom showed that more elaborate use of Kahoot! improved speaking skills significantly (p ¼ .010,effect size large) (Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a, 2017b).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a, 2017b

In the paper

“Several studies suggest that the game show elements, graphics, points and, audio contribute to a more positive learning environment”

In the paper

“Several studies do not include any statistical analysis that reports on how students perceived the use of Kahoot! in their learning.Many articles report that the majority of students perceived that Kahoot!increased their motivation and enjoyment in the classroom”

In the paper

“Some studies in our review reported improved and increased the interaction among students”

In the paper

“This section presents findings on the teachers' perception of Kahoot! from the ten articles focusing on the theme found in our review.”

In the paper

“Our literature review found many articles that reported on improved classroom dynamics without backing it up with statistical analysis”

In the paper

“However, we did not find any studies that reported that Kahoot!negative or neutral effect on classroom dynamics.”

In the paper

“Some studies report on user-friendliness, and Kahoot!'s inviting user interface and music”

In the paper

“Seventeen of these articles include a statistical significance test related to students' perceptions of Kahoot!”

In the paper

“The literature review also found several articles that reported observed changes in classroom dynamics from the teachers perspective when using Kahoot! in the classroom”

In the paper

“Only one study reported that Kahoot! could produce anxiety (agitation).”

In the paper

“The majority of the studies (eighty-two) in our literature review included results related to how students perceived Kahoot!”

In the paper

“Several studies mentioned positive effects from the use of graphics, audio and music in Kahoot!”

In the paper

“Accepted studies | 93 (45%) | Studies with relevance, rigor, and credibility”

In the paper

“Further, so far, we did not find any studies on the use of Kahoot! in corporate training or similar.”

In the paper

“No studies were found on using Kahoot!for business training or other contexts.”

In the paper

“Another challenge mentioned by two articles was the fear of losing”

In the paper

“Studies of K! & | 33 (16%) | Kahoot! was one of more tools in the study”

In the paper

“Research question one asked about the learning effect from using Kahoot! and forty-eight studies were found that covered this topic.”

In the paper

“However, Kahoot! was the first SRS designed to provide a game experience using game design principles from theory on intrinsic motivation (Thomas W Malone, 1981) and gameflow (Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Thomas W Malone, 1981 source
• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005 source

In the paper

“Although other SRSs include game-features, as far as we know, only Kahoot! has been designed from ground up as a video game (Wang, 2015).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wang, 2015 source

In the paper

“Educational research has shown that students who are actively involved in the learning activity will learn more than passive students (Butler, 1992;Murray, 1991).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Butler, 1992 source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Murray, 1991

In the paper

“The SRSs have been found to have a positive impact on classroom dynamics, student and teacher perceptions, and learning performance (Caldwell, 2007).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Caldwell, 2007 source

In the paper

“The SRSs have been found to have a positive impact on classroom dynamics, student and teacher perceptions, and learning performance (Caldwell, 2007).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Caldwell, 2007 source

In the paper

“The SRSs have been found to have a positive impact on classroom dynamics, student and teacher perceptions, and learning performance (Caldwell, 2007).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Caldwell, 2007 source

In the paper

“The main conclusion from the studies described above shows that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning compared to other tools and approaches and for various contexts and domains.”

• Also stated in: § 5. Conclusions · plain

  “The main conclusion is that Kahoot! can have a positive effect on learning compared to traditional learning and other learning tools and approaches and for various contexts and domains.”

In the paper

“The results showed that those students using Kahoot!for reviewing lessons performed significantly better (þ14.2%)than those using the paper quiz (p ¼ .000).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018

In the paper

“The results from a quasi-experiment with 44 students in a flipped classroom English course in Taiwan showed significantly more positive responses when Kahoot! was used for interactivity with the teacher, interactivity with peers, attendance, and participation (p < .05,effect size large) (Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a, 2017b).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017b

In the paper

“A case study from Malaysia focused on how well Kahoot!supported Nicol and Milligan's principles for good feedback practice and found that Kahoot!fulfills four out of seven principles (Omar, 2017).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Omar, 2017

In the paper

“Similarly, an article investigated the relationship between the scores on Kahoot!games in a class and the final grade and found that there was a strong correlation between game performance and final grade (p ¼ .005,effect size large) (Nicolaidou, 2018).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Nicolaidou, 2018

In the paper

“The results showed that Kahoot!performed significantly better than using the textbook (p ¼ .02,effect size large) (Chotimah & Rafi, 2018a).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Chotimah & Rafi, 2018a

In the paper

“Especially, interactivity with peers had a low p-value (p ¼ .002,effect size large).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017a
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Hsiu-Ting Hung, 2017b

In the paper

“The results showed that the only statistically significant change was for classroom dynamics (small effect size), where Kahoot! had less impact after five months compared to the first time.”

• Also stated in: § 3.3. RQ2: Classroom dynamics · plain

  “The only negative result was that Kahoot! had a less positive effect on the classroom dynamics when comparing the first time and after several months (Wang, 2015).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wang, 2015 source

In the paper

“A quasi-experiment with 77 students at Bangkok university comparing using a paper quiz with using Kahoot! to review learning, showed that Kahoot!significantly positively impacted the motivation to actively participate in class positive (þ16.5%)(Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018

In the paper

“Another study involving 39 ninth graders in Taiwan, where the experimental group used Kahoot! and the control group did not, the experimental group was found to have a statistically significant lower anxiety level compared to the control group towards the topic of the course -Earth Science (Lee et al., 2019).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Lee et al., 2019 source

In the paper

“students' perception of game's impact on their learning positively correlates (medium effect size) with course grades (Nicolaidou, 2018)”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Nicolaidou, 2018

In the paper

“The theoretical foundation for the game concept in Kahoot! was based on Tom W. Malones theories on intrinsic motivating instruction that focuses on the three categories challenge, fantasy, and curiosity (T.W. Malone, 1980).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites T.W. Malone, 1980 source

In the paper

“A crucial part of Kahoot! is the social interaction (Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005) that both take place in a digital game as well as in a classroom.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005 source

In the paper

“The results of our literature review present mainly a positive view of the effect of using Kahoot!for learning.”

In the paper

“The studies related to classroom dynamics indicate that Kahoot! has a positive effect on classroom dynamics.”

In the paper

“students using Kahoot! to review learning at the end of lessons had a significantly higher learning motivation than those who used a paper quiz (Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018)”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018

In the paper

“The results of this literature review may suggest that there is a relationship between engagement, motivation, and having fun and learning outcomes and classroom dynamics.”

In the paper

“The final research question five investigated how Kahoot!affects the teachers' perceptions, and the studies mainly reported that most teachers were positive about using Kahoot!for teaching.”

In the paper

“Our review also revealed that the strong focus on competition and being a game might have some adverse effects.”