Virtual laboratories match physical laboratories on conceptual mastery, with domain-specific advantages and disadvantages¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-31 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Single-mode comparisons mostly show equivalence on conceptual understanding, with virtual labs superior on difficult concepts and inquiry self-efficacy and physical labs superior on planning/refining experiments and instrument-handling skills. → Yahya Fahmi 2026

Evidence¶

Yahya Fahmi 2026¶

Yahya Fahmi, Rusijono Rusijono, Dewi Utari, Metafisika Kartika, Lestiani Winda, Hermansyah Hermansyah, Asbanu Dens E. S. I. (2026). Bridging Pedagogy and Technology: A Systematic Literature Review on Inquiry-Collaborative Models Assisted with Virtual Laboratory in Physics Education. F1000Research 15:1682. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.191181.1

q3 · i? · review · r2

Narrative synthesis of single-modality comparisons in the review corpus. The review reports equivalence dominating, citing Husnaini and Chen (2019): a virtual lab "equal to a physical one on simple concepts but superior on difficult concepts and inquiry self-efficacy". Papalazarou et al. (2024), Evangelou and Kotsis (2019) and Oymak and Ogan-Bekiroglu (2021) found no significant differences.

"Husnaini and Chen (2019) found a guided-inquiry virtual laboratory equal to a physical one on simple concepts but superior on difficult concepts and inquiry self-efficacy, while the physical laboratory was superior to inquiry activities requiring learners to plan and refine an experiment."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Combining real and virtual laboratories outperforms either single modality in physics learning outcomes — related
• Physical and virtual laboratory modalities produce different learning processes and transfer despite equivalent test scores — related
• Inquiry learning in a virtual laboratory on Archimedes' principle produces significant conceptual knowledge gains in all three guidance conditions — related
• Leveraging appropriate types of guidance during the relevant phases of inquiry benefits student inquiry in virtual and remote labs — related
• Guided inquiry learning with virtual and video experiments during Covid-19 remote schooling significantly improves seventh-graders' conceptual understanding in physics — related
• Combining a video experiment with a virtual experiment does not foster conceptual understanding more than a virtual experiment alone during remote schooling — related
• Physical Experience Enhances Science Learning — related
• Affective outcomes of virtual-laboratory modalities are divided and interact with learners' initial attitude profiles — related
• The greatest impact of virtual or blended laboratories is in the cognitive domain and the least in the psychomotor domain — related