The 21st century technology has advanced to become an accessible beacon of education. The physical boundaries of the chemistry laboratory have expanded with the use of innovative virtual lab simulations despite disparate results from previous investigations of student performance comparing virtual lab simulations with traditional laboratory teaching methods. The need to characterize performance holistically and evaluate a combination of virtual labs with traditional methods has prompted a paradigm shift. This dissertation aims to examine the effectiveness of a low immersive virtual chemistry pre-lab simulation that complements the traditional chemistry laboratory in achieving student cognitive and skill-based learning outcomes and student experiential satisfaction in the General chemistry I course. The student achievement measures include cognitive and skill-based outcomes, time on task, and student experiential satisfaction taken for two General chemistry I experiments. A quasi-experimental with repeated post-tests only with a control group research design is implemented at a Florida state college. A convenient sample of General chemistry I course sections is randomly assigned to either a combination of virtual pre-lab simulation with a traditional chemistry laboratory (treatment) or traditional pre-lab and chemistry laboratory (control). The covariance (ANCOVA) analysis of repeated cognitive and lab skills measures revealed that the treatment group significantly outperformed the control group in both cognitive post pre-lab tests. However, the control group attained the greatest increase in cognitive scores between the post pre-lab and post lab tests. The time of task revealed significant differences, though not consistently for the same group, highlighting a difference between laboratory topics. The lab-skills tests showed that both groups performed similarly with no significant difference suggesting that neither approach may have contributed to their lab skills development. Students also had similar experiential satisfaction with no significant difference between the virtual pre-lab simulation and the pre-lab in the traditional laboratory manual. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]