Gimkit - A Most Excellent App for Education!

As a student, I spend many listless hours sitting in classrooms doing worksheet after worksheet. I love learning, but by that 8th worksheet, I'm just not feeling it! But education doesn't have to be boring. Enter Gimkit. Launched in 2017, Gimkit is an educational app that allows students to review materials in a fast and fun way. 

How Gimkit Works

Much like Kahoot, a teacher administers the game and students answer multiple choice questions on their own devices. As students answer questions, they earn in-game cash, and they can invest their money in various upgrades and power-ups throughout the game to increase their earnings. The student with the most money at the end of the (timed) game wins. I find it very cool how you need to strategize which power ups to invest in as the timer is ticking and how the winner not only is a master at the content, but a master at strategy. 

Unlike Kahoot, students do not have to wait around for other students to answer the question and can go at their own pace. Of course, the faster they answer questions, the more money they earn! Gimkit also recycles the questions, so students can review content multiple times. I also feel like this feature removes the stress of getting everything right, but keeps the competitive spirit because the faster you go, the more chances you'll have to make up for your mistakes. 

The Teacher's Perspective

Gimkit not only makes reviewing content fun for the students, but it makes it very easy for teachers to create games. Nowadays, many teachers make quizlets to help their students review materials. Gimkit allows teachers to import quizlets and automatically makes the quizlet into a Gimkit-styled game. This saves a lot of time for teachers and gives students an interactive alternative to just doing quizlets all the time. 

As students play the game, the teacher has a live view of how students are doing and which students are currently winning the game. The teacher can also use to display this on a projector to show the whole class to foster the competitive spirit that makes Gimkit so fun. 

Gimkit does cost money, though they do offer a free trial. You can learn more about their pricing on the Gimkit website. Personally, I think it is money well spent because it is the best game I have ever played in my 11 years of schooling! By gamifying education, Gimkit motivates students to learn the content and makes learning fun.