ABSTRACT Recent educational reforms emphasize that science learning should offer students a practice‐oriented, authentic experience that reflects how scientists investigate the natural world. Game‐based learning has been recognized as a way to transform inquiry practices by making it engaging, interactive, and relevant to students' lives, though its value ultimately depends on the extent to which learning transfers beyond gameplay. In line with this, we designed an integrated virtual‐physical scientific practice approach, realized through instructional modules anchored in a mobile learning game ( Anter ) and extended into classroom and field investigations. This approach situates students in the practices of scientists within a virtual environment while deliberately connecting those practices to real‐world contexts. A quasi‐experimental, two‐group pretest‐posttest research design was conducted among 58 eleventh‐grade students (aged 16–17) from two classes, with one assigned to the experimental group ( N = 30) and the other to the control group ( N = 28). Results showed that the integrated approach benefited students' understanding of ants and their skills related to investigating ants more than modules without the game. Moreover, it alleviated disparities across initial proficiency levels by allowing all students to actively engage in various aspects of scientific practices and develop their science identity. Notably, students with lower initial proficiency reported greater gains in science identity than their counterparts in the control group. These findings underscore the effectiveness of the integrated virtual‐physical scientific practice approach, particularly for those who may feel disengaged or alienated from science education. Further implications are discussed.
Cheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.