An Online Collaborative Biology Simulation Used by Ukrainian Students During the 2022 Russian Invasion

ABSTRACT

Although the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted learning for students worldwide, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has more severely impacted education for Ukrainian students. This study was conducted in the context of an educational technology master's thesis (Halchevska, 2022) at the University of Tartu, Estonia. A master's student with Ukrainian background contacted a biology teacher in Ukraine and offered to help teach an online collaborative lesson about genetics and the laws of inheritance. The lesson involved using an innovative computer simulation called the Collaborative Rabbit Genetics Lab. The learning materials were translated into Ukrainian. A quasi-experimental research design compared whether prior experience working with a collaborative seesaw simulation would influence outcomes later with the biology-related collaborative simulation. Data from two classes of 9th-grade students were collected using questionnaire items related to the perception of interdependence, an open-ended question about collaboration, and a focus group interview. The results indicate that prior practice with a collaborative simulation somewhat enhanced perceived collaboration the next time students worked with a similar type of interdependent task but did not affect task performance. The findings suggest that more guidance is needed to support learners in online collaboration when they solve interdependent tasks. Copyright © 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)