As the key and difficult point of architectural design teaching, spatial cognition has been paid more and more attention by domestic and foreign universities. Virtual reality (VR) technology can generate 3D dynamic vision to provide users with a 1:1 virtual immersion experience. For architectural students, VR technology brings a new design perspective. In order to prove that VR has a positive effect on students' spatial cognition, this paper conducts teaching experiments on VR and several traditional architectural design methods, and conducts questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews at different stages. The research results show that under the VR design mode, students have more accurate control over spatial size and proportion, and their ability to understand spatial cognition and design has been significantly improved. At the same time, it also provides certain practical value for the application of VR technology in the field of architectural design teaching.