by Teddy Colcher (6th)
Of all the apps that are used to enrich our learning experience here at CMS, one of them has presented itself to be the best for quick learning experiences with cooperative learning while still being a fun site to use. That site is gimkit.com. Gimkit is structured a lot differently than other learning platforms, as it is more similar to sites like Blooket and Kahoot, while having a few key differences that really let it shine.
What makes Gimkit good?
Gimkit has many different games like Don’t Look Down, Capture the Flag, Tag:Domination, and many more. Many of these games work with an energy system. Now, the energy system is what makes Gimkit a learning site, but misusing the energy system can lead to frustrating and unengaging Gimkits in class. An ideal way the energy system should be used is by making sure the balance of energy per question is good. Kits with easy questions should give less energy, maybe 1-2 thousand energy, and kits with harder questions should give more energy, such as 3-5 thousand energy.
Unlike Blooket and Kahoot, you aren’t just answering questions and hoping you get them fast enough or get good prizes. The games are actively engaging and reward skill instead of pure luck. It makes students want to try to win the game, and to try to win, you need to answer questions. This filters out how many students don’t want to participate in Blookets or Kahoots, because of their boring and luck-focused nature. Gimkit always gives students something to do while making sure they always learn the material- it’s a win-win situation!
Gimkit is also a very flexible site, as it isn’t limited to one specific topic. You can have kits on Math, ELA, History, Science and more! It allows every class to use the site, and as I previously stated, that is a very good thing!
However, while Gimkit has a vast majority of upsides, it still has a few downsides that I feel are necessary to mention. One of the main criticisms with Gimkit is that it may become a bit too addictive and kids may prioritize playing it over other educational games. However, I don’t see this as a bad thing at all! If a majority of kids are playing Gimkits in class or for homework, they are still learning, and it is not all games! Kids getting sucked into this site is a good thing because it means they may learn in or out of school!
Why do other learning sites fail?
Although this article is primarily about Gimkit, I wanted to add a section about why Gimkit succeeds while sites like Lexia or IXL fail. Since Gimkit is primarily used in Math classes, I first want to talk about IXL and why it is overall a worse site than Gimkit.
IXL operates under a “smart score,” which is basically a number that goes up for each question you answer correctly and down for every incorrect answer. On paper, this idea isn’t bad. Rewarding students for accuracy while giving penalties for mistakes is logical enough for a site aimed to increase accuracy. However, the way the smart score is used is what makes IXL far worse than its competitors. The problem is that once your smart score gets to 80 or higher, you usually only get 2-3 points for every correct answer. However, an incorrect answer can set you back 6-10 points! It’s obvious why a system like that may be frustrating, especially considering the questions in the 80-100 point range are often much more difficult than the questions in the 0-100 range. Overall, IXL is not ideal for classrooms because it is incredibly frustrating, especially when you have to do multiple skills back to back!
Now let’s talk about Lexia, a site which builds ELA skills rather than Math. For this section, I will be talking about Lexia PowerUp and not Core5. Lexia has 3 different skills you can practice. Those skills are Word Study, Grammar, and Comprehension. Each of these skills work in the same format, however. You answer questions and watch your bar at the bottom of the screen fill up. When it does, you’ve made it to the next section! Once you do 5-10 sections, you have finished the lesson. The reason why I believe Lexia fails as a site is because it can sometimes be hard to understand. For example, sometimes you will be given a word that has two meanings, for example, maybe a word like bat. This can make some sections pretty confusing if proper context is not given. Also, Lexia can be very boring. Repetitive videos and explanations that stretch for minutes at max do not feel engaging, especially when the videos and explanations can sometimes appear multiple times per lesson!
There are many other sites that are also inferior to Gimkit, but those are the main ones. I hope you know understand why Gimkit is the best learning platform used at CMS.