The effectiveness of Instructional Software in Addressing the Impact of COVID 19 on 10th Grade Students' Achievement in Biology in Jordan (Preprint)
Authors: Bani Ahmad Fadi 
Published: July 2020

BACKGROUND

In this day and age, countries are witnessing a tremendous revolution and scientific progress in information systems and technology that have contributed to developing all aspects of life, especially the instructional field, which facilitates the process of effective telecommunication, communication, and information exchange that serves the learner. These days, the COVID19 crisis has had a major impact on the education sector as schools, universities, and instructional institutions being forced to close, reducing the chances of its spread. This has caused great concern among the members of this sector, especially its students in light of a crisis that may be prolonged.
These new developments have prompted instructional institutions to switch to E-Learning as an important alternative to traditional education. There has been a recent and long debate about the necessity of integrating it into the instructional process, especially after the instructional process is directly affected by the automation of the industry, development of technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things along with the information technology revolution that breaks into most aspects of human life and becomes one of its integral parts.
The introduction of technology in the instructional process is a global trend that makes the existence of instructional material and its availability through mobile devices for "Generation X" is a catalyst for learning rather than relying on the traditional study alone. Providing the instructional material in this way develops appropriate knowledge and skills that qualify the learner to meet the needs of the labor market. Many related programming languages contribute to the instructional learning process, such as instructional software that contains scientific material and accompanying activities, and interactive instructional methods that contribute to its understanding and clarification, as this development adds an important dimension in finding interaction between the learner and the computer through the contents of the software used as an aid in Education (Haniyeh, 2019).
The instructional software is one of the main elements used through the computer, which helps to differentiate education due to its characteristics featured with instructions for the learners to make it easier for them to use, deal with and apply. Also, the instructional software observes the individual differences among learners in terms of abilities and capabilities available to them and meets their desires and needs, leading to design several programs for different subjects (Sajini & Khalil, 2017). The instructional software aims to present the instructional material encouragingly and serially inside or outside the classroom. Instructional software is distinguished by its ability to link the curriculum to a computer and contributes to helping students and teachers design interactive electronic applications through sound, image, and animation to contribute to developing learners' attitudes towards learning and stimulate their motivation and thus improve and increase their academic achievement (Rifaee, 2017).
One of the most important qualitative indicators demonstrating the quality of the instructional process is academic achievement, which is one of the most central factors that greatly affect the formation of the learner’s personality and facilitate its integrated growth. Academic achievement is seen as a measure of what the learner has achieved in his education and his ability to express his knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Therefore, several psychologists have considerably paid attention to the important topics and issues that capture the future of students, especially in a society that gives academic achievement and access to excellence great attention due to its key role in determining the path of the learner and his scientific future and defining her profession in life (Jalali, 2016).

Raising the level of academic achievement has become a necessity based on trying to reach success and excellence in test standards compared to the best international scientific standards, as it indicates the individual's motivation to a greater degree in dealing with information, regardless of its difficulty. Besides, it is the responsibility of educators to raise the level of expectations achieved by students, and thus there will be a motivation and incentive to learn whose limits may exceed their capabilities in line with the expectations of their teachers (Zghoul & Hindawi, 2019).

OBJECTIVE

In light of the problem of the study, the following objective is formatted.
• This study aims to improve achievement in Biology for 10th-grade students through the use of instructional software in light of the outbreak of COVID19.

METHODS

The semi-experimental approach is used for its suitability for the objectives of the study depending on applying specific processing to one group rather than another one to explore its effect. The 60-student study sample is purposely selected from the study population and distributed into two female groups: a 30-student control group and a 30-student experimental group of the 10th-grade students at Al-Khansaa Secondary School for Girls in Jerash Governorate in Jordan during the second semester of the 2019/2020. The experimental group is taught the proposed unit of Biology textbook titled “Genetics” using software via Edmodo platform, which is a free social platform that provides teachers and students with a safe environment for communication and cooperation, and the exchange of educational content, and digital applications, along with homework, grades, and discussions. However, the control group is taught in the traditional method via the Edmodo platform

RESULTS

• Results related to answering the study question that states “Are there statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) among the arithmetic means of achievement of the 10th-grade students in Biology due to the teaching method of instructional software and the traditional method?”
To answer this question, both the arithmetic means and standard deviations for the achievement of the 10thgrade students in Biology subject are calculated according to the group’s control and experimental variable as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Arithmetic Means, Standard Deviations, and Adjusted Arithmetic Means for Achievement of the 10th Grade Students in Biology Subject Due to the Group Variable
Adjusted Standard Deviation of the Post-Test Adjusted Mean of the Post-Test Post-Test Pre-Test Number Group

SD AM SD AM
541. 14.78 3.54 14.5 2.31 6.56 30 Experimental
541. 10.45 2.12 10.73 1.68 8.17 30 Control
368. 12.61 3.46 12.61 2.16 7.37 60 Sum

Table (3) shows an apparent variation in arithmetic means, standard deviations, and adjusted arithmetic means for the achievement of students of the 10th grade in the Biology subject between students of the experimental group and of the control group, where the arithmetic mean of the experimental group for pre-test is (6.57), and the standard deviation of this group (2.31). The arithmetic mean for the control group in the pre-test is (8.17), and the standard deviation for this group is (1.68), meaning that the apparent variance in the arithmetic means of the two groups for the pre-test reached (1.6).

Table (3) also shows an apparent variance in the arithmetic means and the standard deviations of the achievement of the 10th-grade students in Biology subject between the experimental group and the control group on the post-test, where the arithmetic mean of the experimental group is (14.5), and the standard deviation of this group is (3.54). As for the arithmetic mean of the control group is (10.73), and the standard deviation for this group is (3.46), this indicates that there is an apparent variance in the arithmetic means between the two groups is (3.77).

To find out whether there are statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α = 0.05) between the arithmetic means of the control and experimental groups on the pre and post achievement test and isolate the statistical differences between the two groups on the pre-test if any, the adjusted arithmetic means are calculated as the experimental group is ( 14.78), and the control group is (10.45). Then, Analysis of Covariance (One-Way ANCOVA) is used on the post-test as illustrated in Table 4.

Table 4:Results of the (One-Way ANCOVA) of the Group's Effect on the Achievement of 10th Grade Students in Biology on the Post-test
Size Effect (Eta-squared) Statistical Sig. Statistical Value (V) Mean of Squares Degrees of Freedom Sum of Squares Source of Variance
062. 3.636 29.588 1 29.588 Pre-test
(ANCOVA)
343 *000. 29.773 242.248 1 242.248 Method
8.136 57 463.779 Error
59 706.183 Total Adjusted

* Statistically significant at the significance level (α = 0.05)
The statistical results presented in Table (45) show that there is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups at the level of significance (α = 0.05), on the post achievement test, where the calculated value of "F" is (29.77) with a statistical significance of (α = 0.000). With that, it is seen that the differences are in favor of the experimental group whose adjusted arithmetic mean is 14.78 which is higher than the adjusted arithmetic mean for the performance of the control group of 10.45.

To reveal the effectiveness of using instructional software to teach the proposed unit of Biology subject in the achievement of the 10th-grade students, a size effect (Eta-squared) is used to measure the size of the effect that is (343.). This means that (34.3%) of the variation in performance is due to the method of teaching using instructional software.

The study attributes this positive result among the female students of the experimental group to the role of instructional software in organizing the instructional material in a logical sequence helping in facilitating the material for students, presenting various concepts in genetics, and dealing with the software easily without restrictions. The female students' motivation and inclination to learn through the software demonstrated through participation and interaction among female students remotely using the Edmodo platform due to the ban on female students to limit the spread of COVID19 causing the closure of educational institutions have revealed the degree of the contribution of distance learning and its methods such as software teaching program to raise instructional competence and maintain the functioning of the teaching and learning process.

More tellingly, the difference in achievement between the experimental group and the control group and favor of the experimental group may be explained by the experimental the group’s increasing interest and demand of female students on self-reliance in instruction as a result of the prohibition, curfew, and the closure of other methods have become unattainable due to this COVID19 pandemic, along with the desire of female students to keep pace with progress and technology face challenges and investment opportunities. The results also explain that the instructional software has contributed to the formation of a mental image among students about the biological terms in the Genetics Unit in Biology, especially chromosomes and genes. Because they are microscopic molecules unseen with the naked eye and far from the scientific imagination and the extent of understanding of the students, the software has embodied these abstract and accurate scientific concepts to preserve the impact of learning because the software mimics the virtual reality and the scientific content of the unit of genetics being abstract ideas that no one can touch or see. The software has also provided the students with the opportunity to participate actively in the instructional situation through the programs, tools, and video clips produced and included in the software, which in turn increases students' acquisition of concepts and the formation of a related mental image. The instructional software has easily presented several different realistic examples of terms, concepts, and components of the animal cell, and the biological structure of DNA.

Of note, the use of instructional software has led to increasing female students' self-reliance in understanding and inferring and providing adequate opportunity in making attempts and errors in an atmosphere of privacy without feeling embarrassed or fear. This has greatly helped them take a sufficient opportunity in making the appropriate decision regarding their instruction in terms of activities, content, location, and selecting the appropriate time, and thus has led to raising their achievement in Biology.

Importantly, the result of the current study is consistent with Sagri’s study (2015) whose results show a statistically significant effect of the use of instructional software in achievement in favor of the experimental group. It also agrees with the results of Saleh’s study (2016) whose results show the presence of statistically the significant difference in favor of the experimental group that has approved teaching using a software strategy because a software program provides a comfortable learning environment for the learner and increases the interest of students in instruction. Distance learning provides students with the opportunity to discuss and compete with other students freely. Also, the learner’s access to knowledge resources at high speed through multiple media and technologies, and the anxiety that users may have in using the electronic network due to the abundance of information available may have an impact on learners challenging themselves to prove their presence and the ability to face COVID19 pandemic and this could affect their achievement.
More importantly, it also agrees with Zabin’s study (2018), which has concluded that there are statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups on the achievement test and in favor of the experimental group using instructional software (Authorware). This is because the software is designed based on the most prominent modern learning theory, which is the social constructivist theory (Community of Inquiry) that focuses on how the students learn and think, as the instructional software’s design for the proposed unit is appropriate to the needs of students and meets their desires and inclinations, so they can use it via the instructional platform “Edmodo” commensurate with their skills, which is reflected positively in achievement.

CONCLUSIONS

In light of the results and discussion, several recommendations have been made such as using instructional software to increase the effectiveness of the instructional process and effective learning, conducting more studies on codifying and preparing the necessary instructional software in various subjects, especially in facing challenges, including the spread of COVID19, working on equipping government school laboratories with the necessary equipment, parts, and software to train students on them, and holding training courses for teachers, in particular, to increase their eligibility so that they can design and produce instructional software.

CLINICALTRIAL

Achievement Test Validity
To verify the validity of the content of the achievement test, the content is presented to a group of experts and specialists in Jordanian universities to express their views in the questionnaire items in terms of clarity of meaning, linguistic construction, and the degree of suitability for the field to which it belongs, and any other appropriate modifications and notes. The necessary modifications are made to (10) items of the test, so the test in its final form has become (20) items. The internal consistency is also calculated by the Pearson correlation coefficient between the degree of each test question and the total degree of the test as illustrated in Table (1).