Bridging Pedagogy and Technology: A Systematic Literature Review on Inquiry-Collaborative Models Assisted with Virtual Laboratory in Physics Education

Background Virtual laboratories have become a standard infrastructure in physics teaching, yet their pedagogical value depends on the learning model that frames them. Inquiry and collaborative learning are routinely invoked together, but no synthesis has treated them as the joint pedagogical framework for virtual laboratories in physics education or examined how the three are configured in practice. Methods Scopus was searched on July 9, 2026, for English-language journal articles published between 2017 and 2026, reporting primary studies in formal physics education that used a virtual laboratory, interactive simulation, or digital experimental environment within an inquiry and/or collaborative framework and reported at least one learning outcome. The Reporting follows Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020. Quality was appraised from full texts using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool version 2018, and the findings were synthesized through a six-phase thematic analysis. Results In total, 925 records were returned. Of the 110 reports sought, 23 were not retrieved and 87 were assessed in full text, giving 58 studies in 59 reports from 22 countries, most often in higher education (n = 27) and upper secondary school (n = 22), with quasi-experimental designs being dominant (n = 21). Combining real and virtual laboratories consistently outperformed either single mode, while virtual laboratories alone matched physical laboratories on conceptual mastery and surpassed them on abstract concepts and inquiry self-efficacy. Guidance, moderated by prior knowledge, determines whether exploratory freedom aids learning or adds cognitive load. Conceptual outcomes were measured in 45 studies (76.3%), but collaboration was designed explicitly in only nine reports (15.3%) and measured in five (8.5%). Conclusions The advantage of virtual laboratories comes from the quality of the pedagogical design around them, and not from technology. Collaboration is the component least often designed and measured, so the evidence base remains one about inquiry with virtual laboratories that happen to be delivered in groups.