Kahoot! has a strong positive impact on students' learning outcomes, shows new research

A new meta-analysis of independent, peer-reviewed studies reveals classroom use of Kahoot!, on average, improves student performance on tests by a full letter grade.

AUSTIN, Texas, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kahoot!, the global learning and engagement platform company, today shared a new research report by WiKIT, a research consultancy, providing evidence for the significant positive learning impact of using Kahoot!.

"With the results from this meta-analysis of independent, peer-reviewed studies on the effect of Kahoot!, educators and administrators can now be even more confident that using Kahoot! improves students' academic performance," said Eilert Hanoa, CEO of Kahoot!. "For a decade, millions of students and teachers worldwide have relied upon Kahoot! to create, discover, and play game-based learning experiences that supercharge student engagement. This new research offers educators strong evidence that Kahoot! works beyond creating engagement—it directly improves student learning."

Elevating learning with Kahoot!'s research-backed solutions

Since its official launch in 2013, Kahoot! has been backed by a strong base of research and certifications, including the most recent ICEIE Silver Badge and ESSA Level III certification.

For this meta-analysis report, WiKIT on behalf of Kahoot! systematically analyzed 155 peer-reviewed research articles involving Kahoot!, all conducted by independent researchers around the world. Based on strict quality criterias, 16 articles—with 2070 participants across primary, secondary and tertiary education—were included in the analysis to test the quantitative effect of Kahoot! on learning outcomes.

By standardizing and converting the various learning outcomes measurements in the 16 articles to effect sizes, WiKIT estimated the average effect of Kahoot! on learning outcomes. The conclusion was clear and significant: using Kahoot! improved students' learning by 0.72 standard deviations. In practical terms, this improvement equates to shifting a student from the 50th to the 72nd percentile or increasing performance on a typical test by a full letter grade. The report provides comprehensive evidence for Kahoot! as a powerful learning technology across a wide range of educational contexts.

In their report, WiKIT also recommends updating the effect size as even more high-quality, peer-reviewed studies appear in the years to come.

Important step for evidence-based learning technology

Evidence-based EdTech has seen growing demand across the education sector in recent years, with a drive to invest in high-quality, proven solutions that meet the needs of both educators and learners.

"The high number of published research studies about Kahoot!'s quiz games speaks to the popularity of Kahoot! globally. WiKIT's meta-analysis synthesizes the effect of these independent studies, showing significant learning benefits of using Kahoot!," said Professor Natalia Kucirkova, Co-CEO of WiKIT and co-author of the report. "It is great to see Kahoot!'s dedication to evaluating the research conducted with its products and overall support for evidence that is increasingly demanded by the EdTech sector to deliver effective educational experiences for all learners."

Find out how you can bring Kahoot!'s evidence-based learning solutions to your school, school district, or higher education campus by signing up today.

For more information or media enquiries, please contact: 

Axel Heiberg-Andersen
Senior Communications Manager, Kahoot!
[email protected]

About Kahoot!   

Kahoot! is on a mission to make learning awesome! We want to empower everyone, including children, students, and employees to unlock their full learning potential. Our learning platform makes it easy for any individual or corporation to create, share, and host learning sessions that drive compelling engagement. Launched in 2013, Kahoot!'s vision is to build the leading learning platform in the world. Since launch, Kahoot! has hosted hundreds of millions of learning sessions with 10 billion participants (non-unique) in more than 200 countries and regions. The Kahoot! Group includes Clever, the leading US K-12 EdTech learning platform, together with the learning apps DragonBox, Poio, Drops, Actimo, Motimate, and Whiteboard.fi. The Kahoot! Group is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with offices in the US, the UK, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Spain and Poland. Let's play!

SOURCE Kahoot!