Effect of Virtual Laboratory Simulation on Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Chemistry among Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of virtual laboratory simulation and the conventional teaching method on students’ conceptual understanding of Chemistry in senior secondary schools in Delta State. The study adopted a pretest–posttest non-equivalent control group design, a quasi-experimental design structured into a 2 × 2 factorial matrix involving teaching methods (virtual laboratory simulation and conventional teaching) and gender (male and female). Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The population comprised 62,527 students in public secondary schools in Delta State. A sample of 250 students was selected using a multistage sampling technique from four public secondary schools. Data were collected using the researcher-developed Chemistry Conceptual Understanding Test (CCUT), consisting of 40 multiple-choice items designed to assess students in the department of Science Education and Measurement and Evaluation at Delta State University, Abraka. Its reliability was established using the test–retest method, yielding a coefficient of 0.84. Data collection lasted six weeks and involved pretest administration, treatment, and post-test administration. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Two-Way ANCOVA were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that virtual laboratory simulation significantly enhanced students’ conceptual understanding of Chemistry compared with the conventional teaching method, while gender had no significant effect. The study recommended greater adoption of virtual laboratory simulation in Chemistry instruction.