The implication of instructional design for deciduous tooth identification in a dental morphology course for undergraduate dental students

• Published in: Journal of dental sciences Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 515 - 523
• Main Authors: Wang, Yin-Lin, Cheng, Feng-Chou, Chiang, Chun-Pin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.01.2024; Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China
• Subjects: Dental morphology course; Dental students; Instructional design; Original; Pediatric dentistry; Self-directed learning; Dental students; Pediatric dentistry; Self-directed learning; Instructional design; Dental morphology course
• ISSN: 1991-7902; 2213-8862
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jds.2023.09.019

The pediatric dentistry courses are lacking in our six-year undergraduate dental education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implication of instructional design for deciduous tooth identification in a dental morphology course for undergraduate dental students through students’ perspectives. A total of 34 s-year dental students who took this dental morphology course were invited to fill out the questionnaire for survey of instructional design for deciduous tooth identification after the class. Of the 34 dental students, 32 of them participated in the survey with a valid response rate of 94.1%. The results showed that most students found the learning activity of instructional design for deciduous tooth identification to be helpful for improving their knowledge about deciduous dentition. Most of them also had positive attitude towards this instructional design. Since the proportion of pediatric dentistry courses in the undergraduate dental education is very low and children's oral problems are indeed faced by all dentists, it is important to add learning units of pediatric dentistry-related knowledge in different undergraduate dental professional courses or to propose strategies to promote students' awareness of self-directed learning about pediatric dentistry. This study may serve as a model for other undergraduate dental courses in Taiwan.