ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1626181
This article is part of the Research TopicAI-Driven Innovations in Virtual Reality: From Synthetic Data Generation to Immersive Rehabilitation and EducationView all articles
Beyond Traditional Biology Instruction: A Mixed-Methods Comparative Study on Virtual Reality’s Impact on High School Students’ Habits of Mind
Provisionally accepted
- An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This mixed method quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of virtual reality immersion in biology classes on East Jerusalem high school students’ scientific habits of mind, namely, self-regulation, critical and creative thinking. A random cluster sample of 207 high school male and female participants from three different East Jerusalem high schools (two male and 1 female school) participated in the study. Participants were exposed to VRI-based biology contents that were planned according to the Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning principles for a period of four months. Pre- and post-test were conducted to examine the effects of VRI on students’ self-regulation, critical, and creative thinking. The mixed method design allowed for the explanation of the goals of the study, and defining the exact effects of VRI-based biology classes on students’ habits of mind. The integration of quantitative with qualitative insights helped address both the measurable effects and the underlying experiences and perceptions of the students about virtual reality immersion and achieve methodological triangulation. The quantitative nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test results indicated that self-regulation, critical and creative thinking were significantly and largely enhanced after the integration of virtual reality immersion in biology classes. Qualitative results also supported the positive quantitative effects of virtual reality on students’ habits of mind. Hence, the effects of integrating virtual reality immersion in biology classes were promising and may contribute to increased enrolment in the scientific stream, pending further validation through research in other science subjects such as physics, chemistry and mathematics render supporting results. Educators and researchers are advised to investigate and then integrate virtual reality immersion in their science classes to enhance students’ higher order thinking skills and encourage more students to pursue their higher education specializing in scientific domains.
Keywords: Virtual reality immersion, flow experience, Motivation, Self-regulation, Critical Thinking, creative thinking
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Neiroukh and Ayyoub. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nader Mohamad Issa Neiroukh, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.