Dental Simulation Teaching and Learning: Students’ Perspectives

Objective:

We aim to understand DMD students’ views on pre-clinical education, in particular clinical simulation. We compare these perspectives with dental simulation literature to extend existing understanding in the curricular area.

Method: All third and fourth year DMD students at a North-American-Institution were invited to participate in Simulation-Teaching-and-Learning-Survey (STL-Survey). 34 fourth-year and 28 third-year students completed the STL-Survey. The first of the four sections gathered information on gender and year-of-study. The remaining questions were developed by (i) consulting two existing surveys, and (ii) looking to the instructional experience and observations gathered at the institution. Embedded in the STL-Survey, students’ perceptions toward various learning modes, interactions with instructor, and the nature and frequency of instructor-feedback are assessed using both Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) and open-ended questions.

Result:

Among the 22-VAS-items, the Cronbach’s Alpha of the survey is .89. All survey participants (N=62) responded that the most effective mode of learning is “to-use-3D-Models” (mean=81.5). The least effective mode of learning is “demonstration-by-a-classmate” (mean=51.2). There are statistically significant differences in the perceptions of third- and fourth-year students, suggesting that the interactions with instructors were perceived differently between the two groups. When comparing perceptions between genders (N=56), more male students perceived “drawing-diagram[s]” and “being-asked-questions-about-procedures” as being helpful to their learning than did female students. Female students showed lower agreement than male students with the statement related to “instructor’s-specific-feedback-being-helpful”. Content analysis of the open-ended questions led us to further interpret the quantitative data analysis results.

Conclusion:

Our findings on 3^rd year and 4^th year students’ views on effective learning in clinical simulation provides new understanding in how student’s class culture and gender difference may play a role in simulation-learning. Suggestions are provided to address the issues associated with these findings, which may be helpful to dental curriculum designers.