[Evaluation of non-conventional teaching methods]

The article compares the learning performances of dentistry students in participative theory classes and using self-teaching modules. The subjects were a group of third-year students in the School of Dentistry of the University of Buenos Aires, who were divided into two subgroups, one that attended the participative theory class and the other that used the self-teaching modules. The information imparted was exactly the same in both cases. A written test was administered and graded by the instructors. The process was repeated with another group of students using other subject matter. The findings of this study showed that there was no significant difference between the two methods in terms of student performance. The self-teaching modules improved the learning results of the group of students with the lower performance rating, which indicates that this teaching method is particularly effective for students conventionally rated as poor performers.