How to Use Kahoot in the Classroom

If you haven’t heard of Kahoot! yet, you’ve got to check it out! The teachers in our community frequently rave about the free website teachers can use to play review games and quizzes with their students. Bonus: Kids can log in to the platform from any device, even their cell phones.

Last week, teacher Beth asked for some specific advice on how to use the site: “Can anyone give me ideas for how they use Kahoot! in their classrooms? I’m not sure I’m using it as effectively as I could. Thanks!”

Beth, we’ve got you covered. Check out these ideas for using Kahoot! in your classroom from real teachers:

1. How to get started: “Go to getkahoot.com and create a free account. You can search the public quiz games or create one of your own. I’m not even that tech-savvy, but I played around with it and figured it out. It’s pretty simple.” —Dawn K.

After you’ve created an account, launch a game and then have students input the unique pin at kahoot.it.

2. Tap into the kids’ love of technology and competitive natures… “There’s a new ‘ghost’ feature that lets the kids play against their previous score. They love it!” —Suzanne K.

3. … But still keep the volume at a minimum. “I play calmer music from Pandora if the Kahoot! music is too overstimulating for the students. If they get too rowdy, I limit how often we do it until they get the message.” —Jo Marie S.

4. Use the results to direct classroom activity organization. “I use the data as a way to organize and pull small groups.” —Renee Q.

5. Assess student understanding. “It works great for assessing where students might be missing a concept or content.” —Katie O.

6. Zero in on the needs of individual students. “You can get detailed reports of which child missed which questions!” —Kelly D.

7. Conclude class with a quick round. “You can use it at the end of class or after notes for a formative assessment. I always have to do it at the end because they get too excited if I do it in the middle of class.” —Nikki S.

8. Try it for review (and check out comparable free sites, too!). “I love it for review! I make my own, but also search others and duplicate, then pick and choose questions that work best for the material I’m covering. I love it, and so do the kids. Another new favorite site like this is Plickers. Check it out!” —Stephanie H.

9. Need a last-minute time filler? “Create at least one Kahoot! game for each of your units, then play it when you have a random, unexpected ten minutes to fill.” —Erin F.

10. Warm up the class with a game. “I use it as my class starter. I do a quick five questions on topics we’ve covered or material learned from a previous class.” —Darenda B.

On the flip side, you could also do this as a pre-assessment, piquing students’ interests and gauging what they already know about the topic by asking questions before teaching the material.

11. Assess students’ knowledge before the start of a unit. “I use is it for mental/oral starters in maths and I’ve also used it to assess subject knowledge before starting a new topic and after, although I think Socrative is better for that.” —Emma L.

12. Include a game in your sub plans. “Here’s a simple sub plan: The students play a game of Kahoot!, and after each question, have the students explain why that’s the correct answer.” —Calypso B. Love it!