THE IMPACT OF ONLINE EDUCATION ON STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

In the 2020/21 school year, education changed overnight due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the lockdown on students’ knowledge of evolution. Two student groups were compared; both covered the same subject matter, and only the implementation differed: either online or in class. The sample consisted of 476 participants, 15 to 16 years old. Data were collected with a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences in knowledge between the online and in-class groups. The reasons for this remain unclear. The impact of some contextual factors was also tested. There were no significant differences in students’ performance concerning maternal education, and only two concerning paternal education. Males scored better than females. Knowledge of human evolution did not correlate with religiosity. However, it did correlate with acceptance of evolution and attitudes toward biology. The online educated group and the in-school educated group differed significantly in most correlations between contextual factors. Further studies should be carried out on students that experienced the lockdown to better understand its consequences, especially if these are long lasting. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, evolution acceptance, attitudes toward biology, students’ religiosity, parents’ education, students’ gender