Scholarlink

Background <p>Blended learning integrating virtual simulation (VS) and hands-on components is promising for enhancing medical/pharmacy knowledge and skills. However, consensus on effective integration strategies and mechanisms remains lacking. This work aimed to explore the effect of integrating VS-based pre-learning in a pharmacokinetics laboratory module on pharmacy students’ learning performance, and whether metacognition mediated this effect.</p> Methods <p>A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 64 third-year pharmacy undergraduates at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, who were divided into an experimental group (<i>n</i> = 32) and a control group (<i>n</i> = 32). Students in the control group received traditional teaching steps, including routine pre-class preview, in-class lectures, and hands-on experiments in rabbits. While the experimental group replaced routine preview with VS-based pre-laboratory self-learning. Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) was utilized to assess students’ metacognitive levels before and after the interventions. VS-based pre-learning scores in the experimental group were auto-recorded by the platform. Post-intervention learning performances were measured via knowledge test after class, experimental operation and design tests, alongside a learning satisfaction questionnaire. Bias-corrected non-parametric percentile Bootstrap test was employed to analyze metacognition’s mediation effect.</p> Results <p>Compared with routine preview used in the control group, VS-based pre-laboratory self-learning significantly enhanced the experimental group’s scores in theoretical knowledge, experimental operation, and design tests (all <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), with Cohen’s d values ranging from 0.551 to 0.678. After controlling for covariates, each one-unit increase in online VS-based pre-learning performance correlated with a 0.324-unit increase in theoretical knowledge (<i>p</i> = 0.003), 0.304-unit in experimental operation performance (<i>p</i> = 0.002), and 0.550-unit in experimental design ability (<i>p</i> = 0.000), respectively. Although no significant difference in total MCQ-30 scores was observed between groups, Bootstrap analysis revealed significant mediating effects of MCQ-30 scores between VS-based pre-learning and hands-on learning performance, with effect sizes of 0.1785 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0491, 0.3398), and 0.1659 (95% CI: 0.0091, 0.4385) for theoretical knowledge and experimental design, accounting for 55.06% and 30.20% of the total effects, respectively.</p> Conclusions <p>These data suggest that integrating VS-based pre-learning into pharmacokinetics experiments enhanced pharmacy undergraduates’ learning performance in hands-on laboratory classes, with this effect partially mediated by metacognition.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Effectiveness of virtual simulation-based pre-learning and the mediating role of metacognition in pharmacokinetics laboratory education

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月6日

查看全文
  • Xianmin Hu,
  • Juan Liu,
  • Jun Wang

摘要

Background

Blended learning integrating virtual simulation (VS) and hands-on components is promising for enhancing medical/pharmacy knowledge and skills. However, consensus on effective integration strategies and mechanisms remains lacking. This work aimed to explore the effect of integrating VS-based pre-learning in a pharmacokinetics laboratory module on pharmacy students’ learning performance, and whether metacognition mediated this effect.

Methods

A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 64 third-year pharmacy undergraduates at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, who were divided into an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 32). Students in the control group received traditional teaching steps, including routine pre-class preview, in-class lectures, and hands-on experiments in rabbits. While the experimental group replaced routine preview with VS-based pre-laboratory self-learning. Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) was utilized to assess students’ metacognitive levels before and after the interventions. VS-based pre-learning scores in the experimental group were auto-recorded by the platform. Post-intervention learning performances were measured via knowledge test after class, experimental operation and design tests, alongside a learning satisfaction questionnaire. Bias-corrected non-parametric percentile Bootstrap test was employed to analyze metacognition’s mediation effect.

Results

Compared with routine preview used in the control group, VS-based pre-laboratory self-learning significantly enhanced the experimental group’s scores in theoretical knowledge, experimental operation, and design tests (all p < 0.05), with Cohen’s d values ranging from 0.551 to 0.678. After controlling for covariates, each one-unit increase in online VS-based pre-learning performance correlated with a 0.324-unit increase in theoretical knowledge (p = 0.003), 0.304-unit in experimental operation performance (p = 0.002), and 0.550-unit in experimental design ability (p = 0.000), respectively. Although no significant difference in total MCQ-30 scores was observed between groups, Bootstrap analysis revealed significant mediating effects of MCQ-30 scores between VS-based pre-learning and hands-on learning performance, with effect sizes of 0.1785 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0491, 0.3398), and 0.1659 (95% CI: 0.0091, 0.4385) for theoretical knowledge and experimental design, accounting for 55.06% and 30.20% of the total effects, respectively.

Conclusions

These data suggest that integrating VS-based pre-learning into pharmacokinetics experiments enhanced pharmacy undergraduates’ learning performance in hands-on laboratory classes, with this effect partially mediated by metacognition.