Studi Komparasi Keefektifan Pelaksanaan Praktikum Menggunakan Laboratorium Virtual dan Laboratorium Riil dalam Pembelajaran Kimia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of life, especially in the field of education. This situation requires education to adapt and use various alternatives in learning, one of which is learning online at home of each student. Obstacles in doing online are also felt in learning through laboratory activities, especially chemistry lessons. Virtual laboratories can be an alternative to
conducting experiments and as a support for the understanding of the chemical concept learning materials. This study aims to find out the comparison of effectiveness between virtual laboratory and real laboratory based on increased student grades, knowledge of chemical concepts, and knowledge of laboratory safety. This study is conducted by library research method and qualitative by analyzing seven main scientific articles and ten supporting scientific articles themed on comparison of virtual laboratory and real laboratory activities. The results revealed that virtual laboratory have several advantages over real laboratory; (1) savings in the cost of procurement and maintenance of tools and materials, more flexible times and places, and can minimize the risk if there is an error in the experiment, (2) virtual laboratory used has been proven to increase students' achievement and interest in chemistry, virtual laboratory can be used repeatedly with different parameters so as to solidify the understanding of
concepts materials, (3) virtual laboratory experiments cannot be used as a substitute for real laboratories completely, given the lack of understanding especially in technical capabilities and safety attitudes in the laboratory, especially if students do not have previous laboratory experience, (4) combining learning through virtual laboratory before conducting real experiments in real laboratory will further improve understanding of concepts and reduce the risk of errors that arise during the experiment, (5) the use of interesting visuals and the latest technology can increase students' interest to learn chemistry.