Hello!
Have you heard of Gimkit? If no, why not? Gimkit is a fairly new online review tool that was created by a high school student in Washington who was bored with his teacher’s go-to review game.
What makes Gimkit so awesome to me are all of the options you have when setting up a game. You can create your own “kits” which are your set of questions, or you can use kits that have been created by other users. You can use other user’s questions to make your own kits. Questions can be multiple choice or fill-ins (which have to match the answer 100%). You can also add a visual aid or record your own voice with your question.
As students play the game, it is individually paced. They move on to the next question as soon as they are done with their current question, no waiting for the rest of the class. Each question they get correct, they earn points in the form of money, and they lose money when they get a question wrong. If they get a question wrong, they are able to click an option that shows them the correct answer so that if they get the question again, they can answer correctly. “Get the question again?” you say? Yes, when setting the game, you can pick a time limit or money goal, because students gain points in the form of money. During the game, depending on the length of the game and the size of the kit, they can see each question numerous times. This repetition helps cement the concept that is being reviewed.
So what do they do with the money they earn, does it just pile up? No, it does not. After each question, they are asked if they want to go to the next question or go to the shop. In the shop they can buy upgrades and power ups. The upgrades include more money per question, streak bonus, multiplier, and insurance. These all directly affect the students ability to earn more money per question and rise in the rankings. The power ups affect other students and include “blur” and “icer” where it blurs or freezes another student’s screen for 15 seconds. The subtractor takes 20% of another student’s earnings away, the reducer takes 50% of earnings for 60 seconds away from another student, the mini and mega bonus multiply earnings for a single question, and the shield protects the student from other student’s attacks.
The game can be played individually, in team mode with the teacher setting the size of the teams, or in a special game mode that is released periodically. Some special game modes include Humans vs. Zombies that splits your class into two teams, Big Boss Battle which is the entire class vs. one student that you pick, and the Floor is Lava where students have to build shelter before the lava gets them. Games can also be sent as a homework assignment.
As you can see, Gimkit has a lot of awesome features that work very well with our current distance learning situation and in-person instruction. Start your free 30-day trial today and then decide if you want to continue having full access!
Stay Techie,
Josh Houtchens
7th Grade Science Teacher
Blaker-Kinser Junior High
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