Real and Virtual Lab Activities and the Effect of the Switching of Their Order in Teaching Science Concepts to Students with Learning Difficulties – A Case Study

Abstract

Concepts of physics, such as those of electricity or heat, present difficulties in their understanding, for students in general and for students with learning difficulties in particular. The present study investigates the perceptions of a high school student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in concepts of electricity and heat and observes his responses to experimental personalized activities in real and virtual environments in order to evaluate the cognitive results that emerge after the interventions. The initial interview that preceded the interventions showed that the student was not actively involved in the classroom and had similar alternative ideas about electricity and heat concepts. However, the results of the instructive virtual and real experimental interventions revealed the learner’s active participation in the learning process, the enhancement of the conceptual change and the satisfactory apprehension of the science concepts. The findings also indicate that the switching from virtual to real labs lead to better cognitive results, lessening the stress and anxiety of the unknown. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.