Effects of virtual reality simulation on medical students’ learning and motivation in human parasitology instruction: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Abstract Background Though research has suggested the effectiveness of simulation-based learning, the adoption of simulation in medical education is still limited, and its effects on motivation is rarely studied. The aim of this study was to investigate how simulation-based learning impacted student learning as well as students’ subjective task values, a key component of motivation, when used in a medical morphology-related course of Human Parasitology. Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 113 undergraduate medical students in China who took a Human Parasitology course during April to May 2022. Students were assigned to one of two conditions: Simulation Group (n=55), where they played the online simulation; and Lecture Group (n=58), where they received an online lecture. All participants’ learning was measured prior to the intervention, immediately after the intervention and three weeks later to assess knowledge retention. The Subjective Task Values Questionnaire was used to measure students’ subjective task values both prior to and after the interventions. Data were analyzed using one-way ANCOVAs and MANOVAs. Results Students in the Simulation Group gained significantly more knowledge than those in the Lecture Group [F (1,110) = 23.69, p < 0.01]. Moreover, students in the Simulation Group retained their knowledge significantly better than those in the Lecture Group [F (1,101) = 10.05, p < 0.005]. In the Simulation Group, student subjective task values significantly increased after the intervention [F (3, 52) = 3.57, p < 0.05, ηp2 =0.17], while in the Lecture Group, there was a significant decrease in student subjective task values [F (3, 55) = 2.96, p < 0.05, ηp2=0.14]. Conclusions Simulation-based learning leads to superior learning and enhanced subjective task values. The findings shed light on the design of simulation-based learning in medical education and have important practical implications for medical education.