Despite the value of VR (Virtual Reality) for educational purposes, the instructional power of VR in Biology Laboratory education remains under-explored. Laboratory lectures can be challenging due to students' low motivation to learn abstract scientific concepts and low retention rate. Therefore, we designed a VR-based lecture on fermentation and compared its effectiveness with lectures using PowerPoint slides and a desktop application. Grounded in the theory of distributed cognition and motivational theories, our study examined how learning happens in each condition from students' learning outcomes, behaviors, and perceptions. Our result indicates that VR facilitates students' long-term retention to learn by cultivating their longer visual attention and fostering a higher sense of immersion, though students' short-term retention remains the same across all conditions. This study extends current research on VR studies by identifying the characteristics of each teaching artifact and providing design implications for integrating VR technology into higher education.

翻译：摘要：尽管虚拟现实技术在教学中具有重要价值，但其在生物学实验教学中的教育潜力仍有待深入探索。由于学生对抽象科学概念的学习动机不足且知识留存率较低，实验课的理论教学面临挑战。为此，我们设计了一堂基于虚拟现实的发酵主题理论课，并将其与使用PPT幻灯片和桌面端应用的教学效果进行比较。本研究以分布式认知理论与动机理论为基础，从学生的学习成效、行为表现及主观感知三个维度，考察了不同教学条件下学习发生的机制。结果表明：虚拟现实技术通过延长学生的视觉注意力并增强其沉浸感，有效促进了学生的长期知识留存；尽管短期知识留存效果在各条件下无显著差异。本研究通过揭示不同教学工具的特性，为将虚拟现实技术融入高等教育提供了设计启示，拓展了现有虚拟现实研究的边界。