Method
Participants
In total, 56 students in secondary vocational engineering education participated, all boys;
no females were enrolled in the engineering courses. The study was approved by the
school board and the participants’ parents. As will be further explained in the next section,
there were two conditions, the traditional condition and the virtual lab condition. Thirteen participants dropped out: four dropped out of school during the period in which the
experiment took place (one in the traditional condition and three in the virtual lab condition); four missed more than half of the sessions (two in the traditional condition and
two in the virtual lab condition); and five were unable to attend the posttest session (two
in the traditional condition and three in the virtual lab condition). The ages of the 43 remaining students (23 in the traditional condition and 20 in the virtual lab condition)
ranged from age 16 to 22 years (M519.17, SD51.39).