Enhancement of Learning Performance and Engagement of Grade 10 Learners in Chemistry through Virtual Chemistry Laboratory  

In teaching chemistry, laboratory activities increase student’s interest because it provides hands-on experience for learning. Unfortunately, the school lack these facilities; thus, hands on learning were barely possible. Due to this reason the researcher opted to utilize virtual chemistry laboratory to address the problem. This study attempted to determine the effect of virtual chemistry laboratory to enhance learning performance and engagement of Grade 10 Learners. Pre-experimental research design involving one-group pretest-posttest was utilized. T-tests were used to determine the significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores. Pearson correlation was used to determine the significant relationship between the students’ engagement and learning performance and Cohen’s d was used to determine the effect size. The result revealed an increase in learning performance of students. Moreover, students agreed that they were moderately engaged. There was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores of both learning performance and engagement. However, there was no significant relationship between the two variables. The result further revealed that virtual chemistry Laboratory has a large effect to learning performance and engagement. In the teaching and learning process, technology plays an important role in providing an educational atmosphere that stimulate students and motivate them for better learning. In light of the results of this study, since the app utilized was downloaded by the researcher, modifications as to what the virtual laboratory should have been and should have been not possible. Thus, it is recommended that training and seminars could be provided to teachers in developing useful technologies that are personalized and based on their own context.