Using Virtual Laboratory to Improve Pre-service Physics Teachers’ Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills on Thermodynamics Concept

Virtual laboratories have been developed in this study as an alternative to the limited equipment of physics experiments. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of virtual lab models to improve creativity and problem-solving skills for prospective physics teachers. The research and development have been divided into 3 phases namely, preliminary study, design development, and model testing. Model testing was performed on two groups of thermodynamic courses using a pre-test post-test control group design. The instruments that have been used are creativity tests and problem-solving tests in the form of essays. Instruments of creativity include verbal and figural aspects. Each data was analyzed using t-test and normalized gain score. The results showed that there was an increase in creativity and problem-solving skills in both groups. The creativity of students of the experimental group was higher than the control group. Student problem-solving skills in the two groups differed significantly. The experimental group has a higher problem-solving ability than the control group. This suggested that the developed virtual lab model proved to improve the creativity and problem-solving skills ability of prospective physics teachers.