The Influence of Environmental Insight and Virtual Reality Laboratory on Students' Argumentation: An Exploration of Solar System Concepts Integrated with Qur’anic Science

Abstract

This study investigates the role of environmental insight—defined as students’ prior knowledge—and the use of a virtual reality laboratory in exploring celestial bodies and solar system content integrated with Qur’anic science, with a focus on their effects on students' argumentation abilities. The research employs a quasi-experimental design, utilizing a virtual reality laboratory to enhance students’ scientific argumentation during learning. Four junior high school science classes participated, categorized based on their previous levels of environmental insight and exposed to either virtual reality or conventional laboratory learning environments. The study found that the virtual reality laboratory significantly influenced students’ argumentation related to celestial bodies and the solar system, particularly when these topics were contextualized through Qur’anic science. Students began to construct more structured arguments when engaged in interactive dialogues about celestial phenomena. Critical argument components emerged specifically during discussions involving Qur’anic integration. Moreover, environmental insight was found to significantly affect students’ environmental and scientific argumentation within this integrated context. Importantly, students with low prior environmental knowledge were still able to outperform peers with higher prior knowledge when supported by virtual reality learning and interactive discussion. These findings highlight the importance of both prior environmental understanding and immersive, interactive learning environments in fostering scientific argumentation skills.