Empathy is an individual’s objective and insightful awareness of the feelings and behavior of others. There are mainly two types of empathy: cognitive and affective. Empathy plays a crucial role in improving student academic performance as well as in promoting social interaction of the individual. Virtual reality is generally defined as a medium technology which can provide simulative experiences in a computer-created environment and has the capacity to enhance human empathy by offering immersive learning experiences. This study conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of virtual reality-assisted instruction on eliciting empathy in students and to discern the influences of various variables on student empathetic behavior. The following two questions were proposed: Is virtual reality-assisted instruction more effective in enhancing student empathy than traditional teaching methods? How are research design, subject matter and process features related to the promotive effects of virtual reality on student empathetic competence
