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An Item Response Theory model, The Rasch Model (RM), was used to assess the LG as the difference between the students\u2019 ability before and after the educational treatment. The participants, (N= 54) graduate students enrolled in the Department of Primary Education, at the University of Patras, in Greece, were divided into two groups and followed two different scenarios to be educated on the topic of microscopy. Our findings provided evidence in favor of using simulations as a supplementary tool to the learning procedure. According to the LG analysis, the students that interacted with the VR software showed a higher change in ability, compared to their fellow students, who followed a more classic teaching methodology and obtained no LG between the Pre and Posttesting situation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3233\/idt-200216","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,7]],"date-time":"2021-09-07T15:09:40Z","timestamp":1631027380000},"page":"487-496","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["An IRT-based approach to assess the learning gain of a virtual reality lab students\u2019 experience"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Evgenia","family":"Paxinou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece"}]},{"given":"Dimitrios","family":"Kalles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece"}]},{"given":"Christos T.","family":"Panagiotakopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Primary Education, University of Patras, Patras, Greece"}]},{"given":"Argyro","family":"Sgourou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece"}]},{"given":"Vassilios S.","family":"Verykios","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece"}]}],"member":"179","reference":[{"key":"10.3233\/IDT-200216_ref1","unstructured":"Paxinou E, Zafeiropoulos V, Sypsas A, Kiourt C, Kalles D. 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