Using a Web-Based Quiz Game as a Tool to Summarize Essential Content in Medical School Classes: Retrospective Comparative Study

BACKGROUND: Kahoot! is a web-based technology quiz game in which teachers can design their own quizzes via provided game templates. The advantages of these games are their attractive interfaces, which contain stimulating music, moving pictures, and colorful, animated shapes to maintain students’ attentiveness while they perform the quizzes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of Kahoot! compared with a traditional teaching approach as a tool to summarize the essential content of a medical school class in the aspects of final examination scores and the perception of students regarding aspects of their learning environment and of process management. METHODS: This study used an interrupted time series design, and retrospective data were collected from 85 medical students. Of these 85 students, 43 completed a Kahoot! quiz, while 42 students completed a paper quiz. All students attended a lecture on the topic of bone and joint infection and participated in a short case discussion. Students from both groups received the same content and study material, with the exception that at the end of the lesson, students in the Kahoot! group completed a quiz summarizing the essential content from the lecture, whereas the other group received a paper quiz with the same questions and the teacher provided an explanation after the students had finished. The students’ satisfaction was evaluated after the class, and their final examination was held 2 weeks after the class. RESULTS: The mean final examination score in the Kahoot! group was 62.84 (SD 8.79), compared to 60.81 (SD 9.25) in the control group (P=.30). The students’ satisfaction with the class environment, learning process management, and teacher were not significantly different between the 2 groups (all P>.05). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, it was found that using Kahoot! as a tool to summarize the essential content in medical school classes involving a lecture and case discussion did not affect the students’ final examination scores or their satisfaction with the class environment, learning process management, or teacher.