Teaching recognition skills to improve products
Knight, G.W.; Guenzel, P.J.; Fitzgerald, M.
Journal of Dental Education 54(12): 739-742
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-0337 PMID: 2246401 Document Number: 354881
All 86 first year dental students in a Conservative Restorations course completed five sets of instructional tasks. Tasks followed a discrimination learning paradigm, a sequence based on the principal that recognition skills are a prerequisite for production skills. Recognition skill measures and production quality measures were collected for pre- and post-test Class 1 amalgam preparations. Significant improvement was found in three of the five recognition skill measures and in quality of production. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that a measure of student agreement with faculty evaluations accounted for 46.3 percent of the variance in post-test production scores whereas traditional admissions measures accounted for less than 4 percent of the variance. Additionally, students who improved recognition skill showed a corresponding improvement in products. The paradigmatic teaching model appears to be valid for Class 1 cavity preparations.