Teaching dental materials using the personalized system of instruction

Area of Science:

• Dental Hygiene Education
• Educational Psychology
• Instructional Design

Background:

• Tailoring instruction to individual student needs is crucial for professional skill development.
• Students with lower scholastic aptitudes often require differentiated instructional approaches.
• Assessing the impact of various teaching methodologies on learning outcomes is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) in a dental hygiene curriculum.
• To compare PSI with conventional lecture/laboratory methods regarding student achievement, retention, and attitudes.
• To investigate the influence of PSI on aptitude-achievement relationships.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study design was employed, contrasting PSI with a conventional lecture/laboratory approach.
• The study involved dental hygiene students learning a dental materials course.
• Outcomes measured included end-of-course achievement, long-term retention (1-year follow-up), and student course attitudes.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in end-of-term final examination scores between PSI and conventional groups.
• Lower aptitude students in the PSI group achieved significantly higher final examination scores than their conventional counterparts.
• Students in the PSI group demonstrated significantly higher scores on a one-year retention examination.
• Student course ratings favored PSI instruction at both immediate and long-term follow-up.

Conclusions:

• Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) is effective in enhancing learning for dental hygiene students, particularly those with lower initial aptitudes.
• PSI promotes superior long-term knowledge retention compared to conventional teaching methods in dental materials education.
• PSI positively influences student perceptions and attitudes towards the course content and instructional delivery.