Lecture-based performance augmentation via game-based application ‘Kahoot!’ in Physical Education: a 5-week experimental study

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Various published papers have already established the effectiveness of Kahoot! in bolstering students' academic performance through various games. However, there were few to no studies were conducted regarding its effectiveness in learning lecture-based concepts in Physical Education, most especially in the Higher Education setting. In this regard, this present study is aimed to assess the effectiveness of the said application via the Experimental approach. Material and Methods. The respondents for the study are selected 2nd-year students from one section pursuing a Bachelor of Physical Education degree at City College of Angeles (Philippines). Participants were chosen via the Purposive Sampling Technique. 40 item test question covering the topics in Physical Education was formulated.  The test question was used at the stage before the test and after the test. Furthermore, a questionnaire was used to assess students’ perception concerning the attribute of Kahoot! The entire experiment lasted for 5-weeks. The experiment was conducted two weeks after the start of the 2nd semester (academic year 2021-2022). Descriptive analyses (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) were used to describe the perception of students based on the application’s attributes. Paired t-test was utilized in order to assess the significant difference in the performance of students based on their pre-test and post-test scores. Results. Based on the findings, students perceive all the attributes of the application to be ‘very high’ in terms of its accessibility (4.84 ± .22), enhancement factor (4.71 ± .27), motivational factor (4.65 ± .35), and objectives (4.78 ± .33). After the paired t-test analysis, a significant difference was observed between the scores of the students. The findings uncovered that students’ post-test scores are significantly higher (32.44) compared to pre-test scores (19.56) with a mean difference of 12.88 (p = .001). Conclusions. Kahoot! is an effective pedagogical tool to be used for teaching and learning lecture-based concepts in Physical education. Recommendations for teachers and future research directions were also presented as a result of this investigation.