I heard you the first time. I've been in those classes. It's still irrelevant to this case.
Even if you're claiming the students were genuinely unsure whether they were doing something wrong, that can only possibly hold before the first quiz when the prof told them outright he didn't approve (in fact, even during that lecture their messages showed they knew he wouldn't, but let's ignore that for the sake of argument). After that, when they still tried to cheat in the second quiz, and continuing even after that failure, they have not the faintest excuse.
And I am telling you that students directly copying answers from others can and is sometimes directly encouraged by the professors in a class.
As in yes, literally copying other's work, is something that the professors explicitly allow and encourage in some classes.