Fostering Student’s Critical Thinking through a Virtual Reality Laboratory

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) laboratory is great potential for education. It is recognized as a technological advance that can facilitate a learning process through the development of highly realistic 3D visualization. Using VR laboratory in teaching and learning makes it possible to manipulate objects in the virtual scene in a manner similar to the real world. Virtual reality laboratory was developed to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills. A Research and Development (R & D) method with a post-test design was used in the research. The subjects included the students who were enrolled at Senior High School in Yogyakarta, Indonesia with a total of 96 grade 10<sup>th</sup> students. The samples divided into three classes, namely EC-1 with virtual reality laboratory, EC-2 with virtual reality and real laboratory, and CC with real laboratory while the quality VR was applied to chemistry teachers. The findings of this research reveal that the quality of VR laboratory integrated hybrid learning was in a very good category. The results of students' critical thinking skills were analyzed using ANOVA test and it was found that there is a significant difference on students’ critical thinking skills of the three classes. Students who took part in learning using VR laboratory both in the EC-1 and EC-2 classes had better critical thinking skills compared to the CC class. Thus, the VR laboratory is potentially used for further teaching-learning process.