Opinions and metaphoric perceptions of the secondary school students treated in the hospital about desire to experiment in the virtual laboratory

This study was carried out in order to reveal the opinions and their metaphoric perceptions of the secondary school students treated in the hospital about experiment in the virtual laboratory. The participants of study, in which case study was preferred, consist of five volunteer students, whom were hospitalized at Ondokuz Mayıs University Medical Faculty Hospital, two of them 7th and the others 5th, 6th and 8th grade students. In the collection of data, qualitative observation made by the researcher in the process of conducting the experiments selected in accordance with the grade levels of the students in the virtual laboratory, the answers to the questions in the semi-structured interviews that were recorded by the researcher and confirmed by the students after they were transferred to the paper were used and analysed by content analysis. In the virtual laboratory, the experiments were made separately for each of the students, on the day and appropriate time, taking into account the special situations of the students. "PhET virtual laboratory application" was used in application in the virtual laboratory. According to the findings, it was determined that the students had never used materials in their courses at the hospital, they had to no experimented before, except for on student that the others had never used the virtual laboratory before, but they wanted to use it, they were satisfied with the application, and they would continue to experiment after the application. During the education and training process, the students who were hospitalized provide psychological support as well as educational support. However, during the treatment process without teachers, students are left alone in the hospital. They can experiment in the virtual laboratory for purposes such as relieving their loneliness, keeping them away from their health problems, relieving their aches and pains, and enabling them to engage in activities that will improve themselves without a teacher. In this context, it is recommended to encourage students to use the virtual laboratory, and to provide students who do not have devices such as tablets and computers by the hospital administration or the National Education Directorate.