The effect of science enhanced with virtual learning environments on academic achievements, scientific process skills and interests in science of students

In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of science course enriched with virtual learning environments on students' academic achievement, science process skills and interest in science.The study was carried out according to the semi-mixed design. The quantitative part of the study was carried out with a control group pretest posttest quasi-experimental design, and the qualitative part was carried out with semi-structured interviews. The research was carried out with two different 5th grade branches studying in a public school in the Kaynarca district of Sakarya province in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. A total of 38 students (23 girls, 15 boys) took part in the study, 19 in the experimental group and 19 in the control group. "Living World Academic Achievement Test", "Scientific Process Skills Scale", "Interest Scale for Science Subjects" and "Virtual Museum Virtual Tour Satisfaction Scale" were used as data collection tools. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students to get their opinions on the use of virtual museums. The unit of "Living World" in the science course was enriched with virtual museum activities in the classroom selected as the experimental group, and taught in line with the curriculum in the control group. 5E lesson plans, observation papers and worksheets, which include virtual museum, live connection and virtual tour activities, were used in the lessons of the experimental group. According to the findings of the study, it was determined that the science course enriched with virtual learning environments had a statistically significant effect on the academic achievement, science process skills and science interests of the students in favor of the experimental group. It has been concluded that the applications with virtual learning environments are generally liked, they make the lessons fun, they attract the attention of the students and are impressive, and the application will be more enjoyable if the technical problems are solved. Keywords: Science process skills, Living world unit, Interest in science, Virtual learning environments, Out-of-school learning environments.