Blooket: The New Class Favorite

 Blooket: The New Class Favorite

    While reading through my classmates' blogs, someone brought up how they saw a class using Blooket for a review, and the students loved it.  This made me want to check it out and see if it would be something I would be interested in using in my class.  I spent that evening exploring the website and noticed it was very similar to Kahoot! or Quizizz (two sites I shared last week.) The teacher or host of the game can choose a set of questions from a question bank or create their own questions.  The questions are presented on the overhead projector and the students' screens.  The students quickly choose the correct answer progress through the game.  If they choose the correct answer, they earn points and can move on to the following questions.  If they choose incorrectly, they do not earn points and wait a few seconds for the next question to be presented.  A wrong answer isn't that big of a deal for a formal assessment, but when the students are racing to compete against each other, a few seconds could mean winning or losing.  

    While Blooket is similar to Kahoot! and Quizizz in its delivery of questions, it differs in how the students win the game.  Yes, higher accuracy and quicker response are ideal, but it is unnecessary.  Blooket comprises many mini-games that the teacher/host will also attach to the question deck.  As the students earn points/coins while answering content questions, they can turn those points/coins into something in the mini-game they are playing.  For example, in one game, the students are defending their map, and with the coins they earn, the more champions they have for protection.  Another mini-game allows the students to "go fishing."  Their goal is to catch the greatest weight of fish.  But, to do that, they must upgrade their lures.  My students' favorite mini-game was a battle-royal game.  In the game, the students were randomly put into teams, and they battled each other until only one team was still remaining.  Regardless of which mini-game the teacher/host chooses, the students are always engaged because of the presented variety.  They didn't care that they actually saw the same content questions over and over again (repeated practice) because they were constantly faced with a new challenge. 

     This game is a great way to practice fluency facts and quick-recall information.  The game lends itself to being a fast-paced game, so if the students are quicker to recall the information correctly, it benefits them in their mini-games.  That being said, I had my students try the game for the first time in science class, using review questions from our Earth's systems unit.  I noticed that these questions caused the game to move slightly slower than I would like, but the kids didn't notice.  They were enjoying themselves while showing me that they knew.  After seeing the data, I was pleasantly surprised to see that group had a higher comprehension of the material, considering we were on two days into the material.  The game acted as a formative assessment, and I could modify my next lesson accordingly.  

    I currently have the free version of this game, and I will keep it until more features become available with the upgraded (paid for) version.  I recommend that any educator who needs something new and fun try this website with their students!