Homework Is Starting to Look a Lot Like Candy Crush
Educational technology platforms like Prodigy, Blooket, and Kahoot are increasingly used in U.S. classrooms, blending game mechanics with academic content to make learning more engaging. While these tools can motivate students and provide teachers with performance data, critics question how much actual learning occurs during gameplay. The gamified formats often prioritize entertainment, with minimal instructional feedback and features resembling addictive mobile games.
- ▪Prodigy presents math questions between cartoon-monster battles, but students may spend little time on actual academic content.
- ▪Platforms like Blooket and Gimkit use game mechanics similar to commercial titles such as Among Us and Candy Crush, raising concerns about learning efficacy.
- ▪Blooket includes a gambling-like reward system where students earn currency for rare avatars, fostering a subculture of YouTube streamers and in-game trading.
- ▪Teachers can track student performance through these platforms, but incorrect answers often receive no explanatory feedback.
- ▪The rise of gamified ed tech has been fueled by widespread use of school-issued Chromebooks and increased digital integration since the pandemic.
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TechnologyHomework Is Starting to Look a Lot Like Candy CrushEducation games are taking over American classrooms.By Will OremusIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.May 16, 2026, 7:30 AM ET ShareSave One afternoon earlier this year, my 11-year-old son was sitting at his laptop and working quietly on his math homework. At least, that’s what he was supposed to be doing. When I glanced at his screen, equations were nowhere to be seen. He was controlling a monster in the midst of battle, casting magic spells to outduel an opposing player.“That’s not your math homework!” I told him. But it was. His fifth-grade-math teacher had told her students to spend time on Prodigy, a site that looks and feels like a video game.
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