Polar knowledge of US students as indicated by an online Kahoot! quiz game

Figures & data

Figure 1. Screenshot of the first 4 questions in the polar kahoot of the Climate Challenge (Turrin et al., 2019). Each question has an accompanying image. Sometimes the image provides information relevant to answering the question. See notes in Table 1 and complete suite of questions, answers and images in the Supplemental Materials.

Table 1. Polar kahoot questions and answers for US teacher-hosted player responses.

How does climate change impact the Arctic and Antarctic?
US teacher-hosted players from the platform	%
1. Which of the following would contribute the most to sea level rise?	Fact − physical science based question
Melting of the Arctic sea ice	29%
Melting of land ice in Greenland and Antarctica	26%
Melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas	20%
Melting of the glaciers in Alaska	24%
	n = 25,880
2. Which answer best describes the North Pole?	Fact − geography based question
Ice more than a mile thick over land	34%
Mainly a rocky mountainous landscape	19%
Ice a few feet or yards thick floating over a deep ocean	29%
A small village where several hundred people live	18%
	n = 18,570
3. Over the last 30 years, the late summer sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean:	Current event + biology because of sea ice habitat
Covers more area than it did 30 years ago	26%
Declined, but has recovered to where it was 30 years ago	20%
Has completely disappeared in the summer	18%
Covers less area than it did 30 years ago	35%
	n = 15,180
4. Albedo is a measure of surface reflectivity. The polar albedo is important because:	Fact − physical science, nuanced question
It reflects greenhouse gases, cooling our planet	23%
It absorbs solar radiation, which melts snow	29%
It reflects solar radiation back into space, cooling earth	28%
It absorbs greenhouse gases, pulling them out of circulation	20%
	n = 11,350
5. People describe Alaska as having "drunken trees" because:	Current event − permafrost thaw is in the news
Many Alaskan trees grow in bogs soaking in fermented juices	28%
Trees tip as nitrates in the soil convert to "laughing gas"	19%
Trees tip from buckling of the ground due to permafrost thaw	32%
Arctic hare have gnawed away tree roots for winter nutrition	21%
	n = 10,196
6. Antarctica's Adelie penguin are negatively impacted by Earth's warming climate because:	Current event − biology based question
Loss of sea ice near the peninsula affects their food, krill	22%
Rain falls instead of snow, freezing the feathers of chicks	15%
Warming causes chicks to hatch before food is available	21%
All answer choices are accurate	41%
	n = 8,363
7. An important example of a "positive feedback loop" in the polar climate system is:	Physical science -- nuanced question with answer in the graphic
Scientists in remote places check on each other’s instruments	23%
Warming ocean water opens new areas for marine species	24%
Warmer winters cause more plant growth, providing more food	22%
Sea ice melt opens more ocean to sunlight, causing more melt	31%
	n = 7,829
8. The polar regions are often described as the planet's refrigerator; this means that:	Geography
They cool the planet by radiating heat back into space	52%
The local residents can store food in the cellar all year	15%
Their cool temperatures keep crops fresh for weeks	18%
Animals live longer because the climate is so cold outside	15%
	n = 6,412
9. Walrus in the Arctic are suffering from the loss of sea ice because they:	Current event − biology
Use the sea ice as a platform for resting	20%
All answer choices are accurate	58%
Launch from sea ice to hunt for food on the ocean bottom	12%
Drift on sea ice to find the ∼5000 clams they eat each day	11%
	n = 5,911
10. What evidence do we have of climate change in the polar regions?	Physical science
The ice flows faster, is retreating, & surfaces have dropped	51%
Trees are growing all over Antarctica & Greenland now	14%
From space we can see straight through the thinning ice	19%
Both poles have large increases in species diversity	15%
	n = 5,464
11. How much would global sea level rise of the Greenland & Antarctic ice sheets completely melted?	Fact − answer is included in the graphic
From 10 to 15 feet	13%
Almost 100 feet	35%
From 20 to 25 feet	18%
Over 200 feet	34%
	n = 5,534
12. Why is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current important to the world's climate?	Physical science & geography
It redistributes temperature & salt throughout the ocean	15%
All answer choices are accurate	57%
It drives CO2 gas exchange with the atmosphere	14%
Density differences make it the “mixer of the deep oceans”	13%
	n = 4,694
13. Satellites & instruments on the land & sea measure how the poles are warming.
TRUE	75%
FALSE	25%
	n = 5,346

Correct answers are bolded.

Figure 2. Comparison of US teacher-hosted student answers with POLES US general public answers (survey and questions described in Hamilton et al., 2017; Hamilton, 2018), for polar kahoot questions 1–3 sorted by frequency of correct adult responses. Stars indicate correct choices. Less differentiation between the answers, as well as a lower level of correct answers, indicates more guessing by students in a US teacher-hosted kahoot than adults in the US general public survey.

Figure 3. Number of US teacher-hosted players vs. question order shows a steep decline in the number of players from Question 1: 25,880 to Question 13: 4,694. Questions 1–5, 7–8 were analyzed in this study.

Table 2. State inventory showing number of unique teacher hosts, number of sessions, number of players for question 1, average accuracy for analyzed questions 1–5, 7–8, and standard deviation.

State	# Unique teacher hosts	# Sessions	# Sessions/ Unique teacher host	# Players Question #1	# Players/ Unique teacher host	# Students per state 2012–2013	Engagement: 10,000* # players Q1/ # state students	Accuracy: Mean % correct by question	Standard deviation
Alabama	13	77	5.9	138	11	744,637	1.9	42.1	0.07
Alaska	6	10	1.7	81	14	131,489	6.2	48.5	0.12
Arizona	19	85	4.5	287	15	1,089,384	2.6	51.4	0.12
Arkansas	15	42	2.8	379	25	486,157	7.8	43.3	0.09
California	131	533	4.1	3,257	25	6,225,091	5.1	35.3	0.16
Colorado	27	78	2.9	481	18	863,561	5.4	44.0	0.11
Connecticut	4	14	3.5	42	11	550,954	0.8	41.7	0.14
Delaware	4	12	3.0	291	73	129,026	22.6	19.8	0.13
Florida	82	406	5.0	1,018	12	2,692,162	3.9	44.4	0.08
Georgia	34	158	4.6	1,037	31	1,703,332	6.1	41.2	0.09
Hawaii	6	19	3.2	25	4	184,760	1.4	49.8	0.10
Idaho	4	8	2.0	5	1	284,834	0.2	60.3	0.29
Illinois	34	186	5.5	980	29	2,072,880	4.7	27.6	0.02
Indiana	28	128	4.6	242	9	1,041,369	2.3	40.6	0.05
Iowa	14	46	3.3	48	3	499,825	1.0	39.0	0.11
Kansas	9	42	4.7	67	7	489,043	1.4	41.7	0.08
Kentucky	17	33	1.9	512	30	685,167	7.5	45.2	0.13
Louisiana	13	50	3.8	41	3	710,903	0.6	48.2	0.09
Maine	9	13	1.4	99	11	185,739	4.4	53.9	0.13
Maryland	23	93	4.0	232	10	859,638	2.7	43.4	0.15
Massachusetts	24	81	3.4	1,505	63	954,773	15.8	37.5	0.10
Michigan	31	106	3.4	893	29	1,555,370	5.6	42.6	0.12
Minnesota	24	122	5.1	590	25	845,404	6.9	39.4	0.08
Mississippi	12	36	3.0	64	5	493,650	1.3	40.5	0.08
Missouri	21	90	4.3	481	23	917,900	5.2	39.2	0.04
Montana	3	8	2.7	19	6	142,908	1.3	59.3	0.18
Nebraska	13	33	2.5	105	8	303,505	3.5	35.0	0.11
Nevada	15	42	2.8	449	30	445,707	10.1	36.2	0.06
New Hampshire	8	14	1.8	869	109	188,974	46.0	45.0	0.13
New Jersey	29	73	2.5	520	18	1,372,203	3.7	37.2	0.09
New Mexico	8	13	1.6	38	5	338,220	1.0	46.8	0.18
New York	52	208	4.0	670	13	2,710,703	2.2	45.1	0.12
North Carolina	31	110	3.5	656	21	1,518,465	4.3	41.9	0.07
North Dakota	1	5	5.0	5	5	101,111	0.5	47.9	0.24
Ohio	56	160	2.9	991	18	1,729,916	5.7	27.4	0.01
Oklahoma	19	62	3.3	833	44	673,483	12.4	35.1	0.04
Oregon	14	49	3.5	395	28	587,564	7.0	51.6	0.11
Pennsylvania	36	189	5.3	404	11	1,763,677	2.3	38.6	0.06
Rhode Island	9	15	1.7	210	23	142,481	14.7	53.3	0.13
South Carolina	22	87	4.0	733	33	735,998	10.0	31.4	0.10
South Dakota	5	9	1.8	84	17	130,471	6.4	53.4	0.23
Tennessee	25	78	3.1	345	14	993,496	3.5	41.0	0.10
Texas	96	568	5.9	2,927	30	5,077,659	5.8	41.2	0.08
Utah	16	43	2.7	149	9	613,279	2.4	48.6	0.11
Vermont	4	5	1.3	268	67	89,624	30.0	34.2	0.27
Virginia	29	140	4.8	319	11	1,265,419	2.5	36.6	0.07
Washington	39	108	2.8	392	10	1,051,694	3.4	49.5	0.09
Washington, DC	3	19	6.3	23	8	76,140	3.0	31.3	0.10
West Virginia	4	14	3.5	21	5	283,044	0.7	42.7	0.27
Wisconsin	23	72	3.1	127	6	872,436	1.2	38.8	0.07
Wyoming	3	5	1.7	3	1	91,533	0.3	11.1	0.16
Unnamed state				1,530
Total	1,167	4,597	175	25,880		49,696,758
Average	23	90	3.4	477	20.3	974,446		41.6	0.11
St Dev	24	118	1.3	639	20.3	1,154,176		8.9	0.06

Engagement is calculated by the number of players for question 1 normalized by the numbers of student in that state. State student data are from https://ballotpedia.org/Demographic_information_for_all_students_in_the_United_States. Bolded states indicate those with > 100 teacher-hosted players for all questions analyzed.

Figure 4. Mean % correct by question for 13 states with >100 teacher-hosted players for polar kahoot questions 1–5, 7–8, in ranked order. Thick lines for Rhode Island, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington indicate highest overall polar literacy. Dashed lines for New York, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Michigan, and Indiana represent states with intermediate literacy. Profiles for Illinois and Ohio are consistent with guessing throughout. California is the outlier, with the most variability.

Figure 5. Results from cluster analysis grouping 13 states according to similarities in patterns of accuracy across questions 1–5, and 7–8. The vertical axis represents the average dissimilarity distinguishing states or groups of states: 0 would be identical patterns, and 100 would indicate maximum dissimilarity.

Figure 6. Answer-level analysis of CA teacher-hosted vs. student-hosted responses for the four questions where teacher-hosted performance was well below student-hosted performance, and additionally was below the guessing rate of 25% (see Figure 6). Stars indicate correct answers. Labels indicate number of players for most frequently chosen teacher-hosted (T-H) and student-hosted (S-H) answers.

Turrin, M., Zaima, L., Keen, C., Pfirman, S. (2019). Climate challenge Kahoot! campaign. https://create.kahoot.it/profile/Columbia_University

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Hamilton, L. C., Wirsing, J., Brunacini, J., & Pfirman, S. (2017). Arctic knowledge of the US. Witness the Arctic. https://www.arcus.org/witness-the-arctic/2017/5/highlight/2

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Hamilton, L. C. (2018). Self-assessed understanding of climate change. Climatic Change, 151(2), 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2305-0

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