The Impact of an Instructional Package Based on a Virtual Lab on the Achievement of First-Grade Intermediate School Students in Chemistry

The current research aims to identify the impact of an instructional package based on a virtual lab on the achievement of first-year intermediate school students in chemistry. To achieve the research objective, the following null hypothesis was formulated: "There is no statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level of significance between the mean scores of the experimental group students who study according to an instructional package based on a virtual lab and the mean scores of the control group students who study according to the traditional method in chemistry achievement." The quasi-experimental design with partial control (an experimental group and a control group) with unequal numbers and a post-test in achievement was chosen. The sample consisted of 66 students from Al-Qadisiyah Intermediate School for Boys, selected randomly. The experimental group consisted of 34 students who studied according to the instructional package based on a virtual lab, and the control group consisted of 32 students who studied according to the traditional method. The experimental and control groups were equalized in terms of variables: age (in months), general average grades for the sixth grade, prior knowledge, and parental education level. A total of 24 daily teaching plans were prepared for both the experimental and control groups. The teaching plans for the experimental group were organized according to an instructional package based on a virtual lab, while the teaching plans for the control group were organized according to the traditional method. The data were statistically processed using the SPSS package for two independent samples with unequal numbers. The results showed that the experimental group, which studied according to the instructional package based on a virtual lab, outperformed their peers in the control group, who studied using the traditional method in the achievement test. Therefore, the current study recommends using an instructional package based on a virtual lab in teaching chemistry and suggests conducting further studies on different stages and subjects to identify its impact on various variables.