This document describes a student's level 2 inquiry investigating whether using technology-based assessments like Kahoot quizzes reduces test anxiety and increases scores compared to traditional paper and pencil tests. The student administered Kahoots to their class and compared the average scores to scores from previous paper tests. While the overall class average was similar, more individual students received a passing grade of 70% or higher on the Kahoots compared to the paper tests, supporting the hypothesis that technology-based assessments may relieve testing anxiety.

1. LEVEL 2 INQUIRY
by Haleigh A. Dykes

3. BACKGROUND
• I chose this wondering because I personally suffer with test anxiety, and I think when
students hear that something is an assessment they automatically get nervous. So, I
thought that maybe by providing a fun way to take assessments that their scores
would increase because their testing anxiety would be relieved.

4. PURPOSE
• The purpose of my wondering is to find a less stressful way for teachers to assess
their students so that the students don’t feel as overwhelmed and stressed out
about taking the test. As a result, I believe this will increase test scores.

5. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE
• During my class, Intermediate Literacy, there were several articles that we had to
complete reading responses on. Within these articles were several that discussed
technology.
• One article talks about eBooks and describes the things that make an eBook top
quality, and thus worth using. There are features like hearing the word sounded out
for you, or hearing other sound effects for animals etc. the promote higher
comprehension skills. (Cahill & McGill-Franzen, 2013)
• Another article talks about using the internet to find more information about a book
that they were reading in class. This helps them understand what they’re reading,
and can help them look up the information that they may not understand. (Bromley,
Faughnan, Ham, Miller, Armstrong, Crandall, Garrison, & Marrone, 2014)

6. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE
• Reading these various articles about technology made me want to pursue a
wondering that was technologically based because I think that technology is a great
resource if used properly within the classroom.
• Unfortunately, I was never able to find any literature that directly connected with my
wondering of using technology for assessments.
• I will note, however, that students are actually being assessed frequently with
technology through the use of iStation, iReady, FastMath, etc. and the students
actually enjoy doing these things so I feel as though they could really benefit from
getting more technologically based assessments throughout the year, especially
since their standardized tests have gone digital.

7. DATA COLLECTION
• When I first began my wondering, I asked my collaborating teacher for a copy of
some of their formative and summative test scores, at which point I averaged them
together and came up with an average score for each student.
• Next, I administered Kahoots to the students. The results of each Kahoot were
saved to my account, where I later went back to analyze the scores. I averaged the
scores for each student, and compared that to their average for the pen and paper
assessments.

8. SAMPLE OF RESULTS

9. AVERAGE COMPARISON
90%-100%
80%-89%
70%-79%
60%-69%
<60%
PAPER & PENCIL AVERAGE
90%-100%
80%-89%
70%-79%
60%-69%
<60%
KAHOOT AVERAGE

10. 45
55
65
75
85
95
Paper + Pencil Average Kahoot Average
Individual Average Comparison
Y.A. L.A. S.C. N.D. C.F. A.H. S.L. M.L. Y.M. B.M. T.N. Ja.O.
Jo.O. K.P. A.P. Jo.R. Y.R. L.R. Ja.R. Je.T. Ja.T. N.T. Column1

11. WERE THERE MORE PASSING GRADES
WITH PAPER & PENCIL OR KAHOOT?
Passing Scores (>70%)
Paper & Pencil Kahoot
• Overall, there were more passing
grades through the use of a Kahoot.
• 11 students received a passing score of
70% or higher on the paper and pencil
tests.
• There were 14 students who received a
passing score of 70% or higher on the
Kahoots.

12. CONCLUSION
Class Average
Paper & Pencil Average Kahoot Average
• Based on the data that I collected, my
conclusion is that as a class, the
average scores did not change much.
• However, more students received a
passing grade on the Kahoot quizzes
than the paper and pencil quizzes.
72.1%72.0%