Developing effective pedagogies to help students examine anomalous data is critical for the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers. By definition anomalous data do not concur with prior knowledge, theories and expectations. Such data are the common outcome of empirical investigation in hands-on laboratories (HOLs). These aberrations can be counter intuitive for students when they investigate real-world processes with technology tools, such as virtual laboratories (VRLs), that may project a simplified view of data. This study blended learning with a VRL and the examination of real-world data in two engineering classrooms. The results indicated that students developed new knowledge with the VRL and were able to apply this knowledge to evaluate anomalous data from an HOL. However, students continued to experience difficulties in transferring their newly constructed knowledge to reason about how anomalous data results may have come about. The results provide directions for continued research on students' perceptions of anomalous data and also suggest the need for evidence-based instructional design decisions for the use of existing VRLs to prepare science and engineering students for real-world investigations.