Kahoot Boosts Middle School Retention and Engagement

Recent research published in SN Social Sciences offers compelling evidence that the popular game-based learning platform Kahoot can significantly enhance academic performance in middle school settings. The study, conducted by researchers from Hassan I University, Moulay Ismail University, and King’s College London, focused on a specific cohort of 9th-grade students in Morocco. By comparing a group that used Kahoot for instruction against a control group that received traditional teaching, the researchers aimed to determine if gamification could improve learning outcomes, delayed retention, and student engagement across different subject areas. The findings suggest that integrating digital game elements into the classroom can yield substantial benefits for both language and science education.

The experimental design involved two intact classes of 9th-grade students, totaling 60 participants aged 14 to 15. The researchers assigned these classes at the class level to either an experimental condition using Kahoot or a control condition using traditional methods. Both groups followed identical curricula for English grammar, English vocabulary, and Life and Earth Sciences over a three-week intervention period. This controlled approach allowed the researchers to isolate the impact of the gamified tool from other variables, ensuring that any observed differences in performance could be attributed to the instructional method rather than differences in content or teacher quality.

To measure the effectiveness of the intervention, the researchers employed a rigorous assessment strategy. Achievement in each of the three domains was evaluated using separate teacher-constructed tests, each consisting of 20 items. These tests were administered at three distinct time points: a pretest before the intervention, an immediate posttest right after the three-week period, and a delayed posttest conducted two weeks later. This multi-point assessment was crucial for understanding not only immediate learning gains but also the durability of that knowledge over time. Engagement was additionally assessed using a three-item questionnaire administered after the intervention to capture the students’ subjective experience of the learning process.

Statistical analysis revealed that the two groups were equivalent at the pretest stage for all three outcomes, with p-values greater than .20, establishing a solid baseline for comparison. Following the three-week intervention, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on both the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest across all domains. The effect sizes for the immediate posttest ranged from 1.56 to 1.84, while the delayed posttest effect sizes were even larger, ranging from 1.97 to 2.16. These large effect sizes indicate that the Kahoot-based instruction provided a substantial advantage in knowledge acquisition and retention compared to traditional methods.

Further statistical confirmation was provided by 2 × 3 mixed ANOVAs, which showed significant group by time interactions for grammar, vocabulary, and science alike. The F-statistics were all greater than or equal to 62.46, with p-values less than .001 and partial eta-squared values between 0.52 and 0.69. These results demonstrate that the improvement in scores over time was significantly greater for the experimental group than for the control group. Additionally, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) confirmed that the group differences remained significant even after adjusting for pretest scores, reinforcing the robustness of the findings and ruling out initial ability differences as a confounding factor.

Retention of knowledge over the two-week interval was another key focus of the study. While both groups experienced some degree of knowledge decay, the experimental group retained a significantly larger share of its gains. Specifically, the Kahoot group retained between 96.6% and 98.0% of their posttest scores, whereas the control group retained only 90.4% to 94.0%. Notably, the grammar scores of the experimental group did not decline significantly at all, suggesting that the gamified format may have particularly reinforced structural linguistic concepts. This finding highlights the potential of Kahoot to support long-term memory consolidation, a critical goal in educational psychology.

The most striking result of the study, however, was the impact on student engagement. The experimental group scored markedly higher on the engagement questionnaire than the control group, with a composite effect size of 3.67. This is the single largest effect observed anywhere in the study, indicating that the gamified approach profoundly influenced the students’ motivation and interest in the learning material. High engagement is often a precursor to deeper learning and sustained academic effort, suggesting that the benefits of Kahoot may extend beyond immediate test scores to foster a more positive and active learning environment.

Despite the positive findings, the authors acknowledge several limitations that warrant consideration. The study was conducted in a single school with only two classes, which limits the generalizability of the results to other educational contexts. Furthermore, the retention window was limited to two weeks, so the long-term durability of the knowledge gains remains to be determined. The researchers suggest that Kahoot is best used as a complement to established retention-focused teaching practices rather than a standalone solution. Future research should explore the long-term effects of gamified instruction and its applicability across diverse cultural and educational settings.

In conclusion, this study provides strong evidence that Kahoot-based instruction can meaningfully improve short-term achievement, support delayed retention, and substantially increase engagement in middle school students. The significant effect sizes and consistent improvements across language and science domains suggest that gamification is a viable and effective strategy for enhancing educational outcomes. As technology continues to evolve, integrating such tools into the classroom may offer a promising path toward more engaging and effective learning experiences for students.

Subject of Research: Impact of Kahoot-based gamified instruction on middle school learning outcomes and retention

Article Title: Gamified instruction in middle school: improving learning outcomes, delayed retention, and engagement through Kahoot

Article References: Boulahnane, S., Ismaili, J., & Haddi, L. (2026). Gamified instruction in middle school: improving learning outcomes, delayed retention, and engagement through Kahoot. SN Social Sciences, 6(10), Article 548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-026-01859-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43545-026-01859-x

Keywords: gamification, Kahoot, middle school education, learning outcomes, delayed retention, student engagement, English grammar, vocabulary acquisition, science education, quasi-experimental design, Gamified, instruction