Design and Validation of a Virtual Chemical Laboratory—An Example of Natural Science in Elementary Education

Abstract

In the natural science curriculum, chemistry is a very important domain. However, when conducting chemistry experiments, safety issues need to be taken seriously, and excessive material waste may be caused during the experiment. Based on the 11-year-old student science curriculum, this paper proposed a virtual chemistry laboratory, which was designed by combining a virtual experiment application with physical teaching materials. The virtual experiment application was a virtual experiment laboratory environment created by using selected experimental equipment cards in combination with augmented reality (AR) technology. The physical teaching materials included all virtual equipment required for experiment units. Each piece of equipment had corresponding cards for learners to choose from and utilize in specific experimental operations. It was hoped that students were able to achieve the desired learning effectiveness of experimental teaching while reducing the waste of experimental materials through the virtual experimental environment. This study employed the quasi-experimental and questionnaire survey methods to evaluate both learning effectiveness and learning motivation. Eighty-one students and eight elementary school teachers were surveyed as research subjects. The experimental results revealed that significant differences in learning effectiveness existed between the experimental group and control group, indicating that the application of AR technology to teaching substantively helped enhance students’ learning effectiveness and motivation. In addition, the results of the teacher questionnaire demonstrated that the virtual chemistry laboratory proposed in this study could effectively assist with classroom teaching.

Development and evaluation of immersive VR laboratories of organic chemistry and physics for students education

“…Even number statements are subtracted from 25, while odd number statements get subtracted from 5. The SUS Score is the sum of all scores for the 10 statements multiplied by 2.5 as shown in (2). The range of the SUS scores is between 0 to 100 in 2.5point increments where greater values show higher satisfaction from the end users.…”

“…Practical laboratory sessions are considered a vital aspect of chemistry and physics education, providing students with essential skills related to learning, practical, scientific, and general skills [1]. Laboratory exercises help to increase students' interest and understanding of the subject [2]. Students' positive attitudes and motivation to learn better have been promoted through practical work in laboratories [3,4].…”

“…M. K. Seery, further elaborated that laboratory work is 'a complex learning environment, whereby students need to draw together constituent skills, including learning the requisite practical skills, and knowledge, and applying them to a scientific task' [6], and stated that however, the laboratory is 'the place to learn how to do chemistry'. Thus, the experimental curriculum of the chemistry lab is significantly determined by safety considerations [2]. Online digital tools have been used as an alternative to teaching the theory behind lab experiments, but adapting practical exercises remains a challenge.…”