Effects of virtual reality-based instruction on secondary school learners’ computational thinking, biological knowledge acquisition, and motivation during oocyte meiosis learning

Facilitating student comprehension of complex and dynamic microscopic processes, such as oocyte meiosis, remains a persistent pedagogical challenge in biological science education. This difficulty stems from the high degree of abstraction inherent in chromosomal behaviors and genetic recombination. Previous research has demonstrated that virtual reality (VR) technology can significantly augment students’ spatial cognition of static structures, yet many existing interventions remain limited to the observational phase and serve primarily as visualization tools for superficial phenomena. Because prior studies often emphasized visual fidelity at the expense of logical internalization processes and utilized assessment methods restricted to short-term factual memory, a clear rationale exists for new research that integrates computational thinking (CT), biological knowledge acquisition, and multidimensional motivation. This study employed a quasi-experimental design involving 47 secondary school students to investigate the impact of a specialized VR laboratory for oocyte meiosis on their CT skills, biological knowledge acquisition, and learning motivation. The major findings indicate that the VR group achieved significantly higher scores in both CT levels and biological knowledge compared to the control group, while also demonstrating substantial improvements across all five dimensions of learning motivation. The significance of this study lies in revealing that virtual environments can effectively promote deep learning when serving as cognitive scaffolds for internal thinking processes, thereby providing theoretical support and practical pathways for integrating higher-order thinking skills into technology-enhanced biological science instruction.