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Kahoot for retrieval practice and consolidation
This video demonstrates how an online quizzing too can be used for retrieval practice and consolidation.
When I first started training as a teacher here, I was placed here on a placement and it was a really good way to capture and engage learners and from that, it kind of took a knock-on effect and it kind of rolled out across all different classrooms ‘…yeah, thinking, think back to all your different lessons we’ve had based on the Romans, okay. And we’re off! Question one. By AD 117, the Romans had conquered lots of places, which country in the UK did they not invade? Was it England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Wales? It is Scotland and 27 of you got that right. Fantastic, well done. Let’s go to the next one.’
It’s a really good way to assess children there and then. What I found it difficult to achieve within a lesson is to get your key questions out there but get everybody’s response in a collective way and that’s hard to do when you’ve got so many other things to get into that lesson. So for me it was a no-brainer to use that tool to be able to assess, address, and then adapt my lesson from there using Kahoot. It’s engaging for the children so they want to participate in it, they’re very keen to take part in a Kahoot quiz as opposed to saying right, we’re going to just have a quick firing questions at certain children and putting children on the spot.
It’s very discreet, it doesn’t tell you, it doesn’t name and shame any child if they get the answer wrong, and I love that part of… that element of Kahoot. ‘What is the name of a Roman soldier’s sword? Ooh, tough one. Is it a Clade, is it a Cladium, is it a Gladius, or is it a Gollum? Ooh, what do you think? Well done. Oh, so a few of us thought about this one. Let’s just go over that with my turn, your turn. Okay? Gladius. Gladius is a Roman sword. [pupils repeat back]
It’s instant feedback that I can then take and then adapt so if I know, oh this is a certain area that the children have not grasped, I can go back a step and make sure that that gap is filled before I then move on and make that gap even wider, so to speak. So it’s filling in those gaps there instantly and the misconceptions are not then carrying on to the next day, which is great in every subject. ‘The Greek god Zeus was known by the Romans as Jupiter [pupils repeat]. Fantastic!’
Where I personally use it is to use it as a consolidation or to see where they’re at and to see what areas they need more help with, so it’s great for me to look at areas and I tend to use a lot in taking the general misconceptions from the classroom and then creating my own resource to address those misconceptions the next day, or on the day if time permits and I found that actually easier to do rather than trailing through through my laptop, looking for a resource that actually fits what I need to do.
If I know exactly where my children are at, I can go straightaway, right these are going to be my questions for Kahoot so it’s actually really simple to achieve if you just put your energy into it. ‘What does the Latin word salve mean? Is it goodbye? Is it hello? Is it my name is? or is it teacher? What do you think it could be? We’ve looked at this when we were looking at Latin words. Well done! Hello is the correct answer. Can we all say that? Salve! Turn to your partner, salve!
You can also search for other Kahoots but words of advice is to make sure you check through those Kahoots because anybody can make up a Kahoot quiz, you need to check the answers, make sure they’re correct. You can duplicate them, you can edit them, you can tweak them, you can delete some of those questions out. You can also add videos to Kahoot if you want to watch a little bit of a clip and then go into a quiz, you can do that on Kahoot. It’s open-ended actually what you can actually achieve just using a quiz on an iPad. It’s great! ‘Just before we start our Kahoot quiz, who can tell me what are our rules for Kahoot? Olivia?
Yes, if we get the answer right do we scream loud? No, we do a silent ‘yes’. I always reiterate the rules before we go on to Kahoot. Once we finish, they turn their iPads upside down so it’s not a distraction and then if it’s time to come onto something else, they lift the iPads back up and go on to the app that they need to go on to and it’s… They’re very good at being able to manage their own iPads.
That responsibility is kind of embedded into those children from the minute they receive those iPads so it’s their responsibility to make sure it’s charged, it’s their responsibility to make sure that it’s looked after and that they’re using them appropriately, but there’s also apps that we have on our iPads where we can lock children in so we can see the screens that they’re actually using, which is another great tool to actually manage the behaviour and make sure it’s being used appropriately in the classroom.
In this video, Kimberley Doyle, a teacher at Prescot Primary school (primary), shares how she makes use of an online quizzing tool for retrieval practice and consolidation of new learning.
In classroom footage, you’ll see how Kimberley makes use of the tool, for dealing with misconceptions and consolidating learning so that pupils can move on. You’ll hear how she has established routines around the use of the tool and how the quizzes support her own planning so that she can assess, address and adapt to meet her pupils’ needs.
The tool used by Kimberley is:
- Kahoot – An online multiple-choice quizzing tool
Whilst Kimberley makes use of iPads, consider what might enable you to achieve similar in your own context if you don’t have a 1-1 iPad scheme.
If you choose to focus on this case study as part of this week’s learning, you can share any initial reflections and questions with the course community in the comments space below.
- How might any of these approaches be applied in your own context to solve a challenge you’ve identified?
When you are ready click the ‘Mark as complete’ button below and then select ‘Discuss your learning’ to connect with other course participants.
This article is from the online course:
Using Technology in Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning
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Using Technology in Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning
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