Abstract
Today, technology is changing quickly and apparently affects all parts of life. Compared to a few years ago, many things have changed, including thoughts, habits, social activities, and ways of life. Thus, this study determined the impact of virtual reality technologies as practice-oriented learning stimuli on the development of information competence and academic performance of future primary school teachers. One hundred eighteen students from the Pedagogy Faculty of the M. Utemisov West Kazakhstan University and 105 students from the Kyrgyz National University majoring in the same field were divided into two groups for the research. Respondents in the experimental group took virtual reality courses, and their progress was evaluated by contrasting their grades before and after the programme. Based on the preliminary analysis of the student's academic performance, it should be noted that most of them performed mediocrely. However, observations by tutors and teachers revealed that when classes were taught using virtual reality platforms such as EyeJack and CoSpaces Edu, students in the experimental group were more willing to participate in tasks and seminars. Furthermore, according to the results of Content Module 2, students in the experimental group performed significantly better than students in the control group in terms of their overall academic performance (p=4.187). The article's practical significance comes from considering how virtual reality technologies might enhance Kazakhstan's and Kyrgyzstan's educational systems.