VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGIES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING SKILLS AMONG PRE-SERVICE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Abstract

Technology is rapidly developing, directly impacting the educational process. Traditional teaching methods are inferior in effectiveness to these innovations. The focus, engagement, and desire of future teachers to apply certain systems in their professional work are changing. The use of virtual reality technologies inspires students to try their hand at learning and teaching. They evaluate this new direction in digital pedagogy through the prism of their emotions and feelings. Therefore, the relevance of this study lies in understanding how such technologies develop the thinking processes of students, who in a few years will themselves apply them in their teaching practice. A competency-based and student-centered approach allowed us to focus on the development of professional competencies and student independence. During the fifth (third-year) semester of the 2024–2025 academic year, an experiment was conducted with study participants in program 6B01301 “Pedagogy and Methodology of Primary Education” at O. Zhanibekov South Kazakhstan Pedagogical University. The control group (n=24) studied using a standard syllabus. The experimental group (n=24) used a virtual reality platform to compare, analyze, classify, systematize, process, and generalize information across a range of topics. The quasi-experimental design of the study revealed before-and-after changes in both groups. Descriptive statistics, paired Student's t-test, independent samples t-test, and Cohen's d-test were used to analyze the data. Results showed positive changes in thinking skills in both groups. The experimental group achieved larger gains and a substantial within-group effect size (Cohen's d = 1.751). The post-test differences between the two groups did not reach statistical significance (p = .226), indicating that virtual reality should be considered a valuable complementary instructional tool rather than a replacement for traditional teaching methods.