Investigating the effects of different laboratory environments on gifted students' conceptual knowledge and science process skills

Instructional technology has been developing rapidly and its impacts can be observed in learning environments. One of the recent technological tools used in science classes is virtual laboratories. This study aims to investigate the effects of virtual laboratories on developing gifted students' conceptual knowledge and improving science process skills. A total of 60 sixth-grade gifted students were the participants. Half of the students were in the control group, in which hands-on experimentation was followed, and the other 30 sixth-grade students were involved in the experimental group, in which virtual laboratory environments were used. Two different instruments, a multiple-choice conceptual knowledge test, and a science process skills test, were used in this study. The findings indicated that each condition increased their content knowledge and enhanced their science process skills in the study. However, the gifted learners in the virtual laboratory environment performed better than those in the hands-on laboratory environment for both tests. Possible reasons for the findings and some suggestions were also shared in the discussion.