Virtual laboratory for enhancing students’ understanding on abstract biology concepts and laboratory skills: a systematic review

Abstract

The virtual laboratory has been widely used in biology learning at all levels of education, but it remains a challenge for countries with technological shortages. Many biological concepts were abstract and difficult to be understood through simple explanation or even difficult to do in a laboratory. Utilization of virtual labs in biology learning, especially in higher education needs to be reviewed about the characteristics of contents, and function and its efficiency to assess the specific variables. Thus, this systematic review was carried out to analyze research articles published from 2010 to 2018. The articles were selected using the PRISMA. The articles were obtained from Google Scholar, the Science Direct, and the Journal of Science Education, ERIC, and Journal of Biological Education. In total, 199 articles were found. The general analysis was conducted. The results yielded 47 articles to be further analyzed by looking at the content and results of the study. Twenty-three articles were obtained and analyzed. Journal content analysis was focused on the selected topic, the dependent variables, sample size, effect size, research design, data collection techniques, research objectives, and the results. Cell or molecular biology was the most widely used topics in the virtual laboratory. Students’ conceptual understanding was the most studied variable, some studies examine students’ affective and psychomotor skills, but only a few studies examine the learning process. Most biology virtual labs were developed using the Adobe Flash Player application with 3D animation. The results suggested for further research to develop a virtual biology lab that is more inquiry-based, and capable of assessing students’ conceptual change and science process skills which not have been widely studied.

Effectiveness of Virtual Laboratories in Teaching and Learning Biology: A Review of Literature

“…Along this vein, several review studies on the effect of virtual laboratories in teaching sciences have been carried out (Brinson, 2015;De Jong et al, 2013;Ma & Nickerson, 2006;Smetana & Bell, 2012;Udin et al, 2020). However, most reviews only included laboratory practices of many other disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, and engineering, with few review studies about the effectiveness of virtual laboratories in teaching and learning biology (Udin et al, 2020). There is a need to know for which topics of biology virtual labs are more useful and what outcomes are brought about by virtual labs in the teaching and learning of biology.…”

Google Colab and Virtual Simulations: Practical e-Learning Tools to Support the Teaching of Thermodynamics and to Introduce Coding to Students

“… 31 Finally, there exist thorough reviews on ICT as pedagogical tools for teaching and learning science. 32 − 34 …”

“…Humphrey carried out a study on lessons learned through listening to biology students during a transition to online learning, and Marchak et al explored “Teaching Chemistry by a Creative Approach” and reported that the online course successfully preserved the essence and the main objectives of the face-to-face course, that is, the original course was useful for remote teaching . Finally, there exist thorough reviews on ICT as pedagogical tools for teaching and learning science. − …”

Reflecting on the Creation of Virtual Laboratory Experiences for Biology Students

“…In their extensive review of published VLs, Reeves and Crippen (Reeves and Crippen) describe that the majority of VLs before the COVID-19 pandemic were 2D desktop-based (92%) and acquired from external sources rather than developed for specific courses (75%). Udin et al (2020) reviewed published VLs that improved Students' understanding of abstract biology concepts and laboratory skills, with a total of 47 reports of 19 VLs dedicated to the topic. The students found the use of VLs to be mostly positive (Udin et al, 2020).…”

“…Udin et al (2020) reviewed published VLs that improved Students' understanding of abstract biology concepts and laboratory skills, with a total of 47 reports of 19 VLs dedicated to the topic. The students found the use of VLs to be mostly positive (Udin et al, 2020). The reported small number of self-developed VLs motivated the author's investigation of whether the creation of VLs is feasible for an academic in their regular line of work.…”