Examining the added value of the use of an experiment design tool among secondary students when experimenting with a virtual lab

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a newly developed software tool, namely the Experiment Design Tool (EDT), on student's learning and inquiry skills. To do so, two conditions were compared; the experimental condition (use of the EDT) and the control condition (no use of the EDT). In each condition, an Inquiry Learning Space (ILS; an online learning environment) and a virtual lab were selected from the Go-Lab learning platform (http://www.golabz.eu/). The data collection involved pre- and post-tests on students' content knowledge and inquiry skills. Results revealed that the integration of the EDT in a computer supported inquiry learning environment facilitated the advancement of content knowledge, whereas the development of inquiry skills requires longer experience with such EDT tools or learning environments. Further research should be pursued, with students of different ages and in different subject domains, in order to investigate the effect of the EDT on students' learning and inquiry skills.