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Comparing the effectiveness of the mini‐lecture technique to role‐playing in a dental psychology course
Author(s) -
Gershen JA
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.1978.42.8.tb01201.x
Subject(s) - course (navigation) , psychology , medical education , course evaluation , higher education , mathematics education , medicine , engineering , political science , law , aerospace engineering
The array of instructional methods utilized in teaching behavioral sciences to dental students has included both teacher‐centered and student‐centered approaches. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two small‐group treatments, mini‐lecture and role‐playing, in teaching dental psychology. Freshman dental students were randomly assigned to 12 groups. Groups were then assigned to one of six dentist‐pyschologist teaching teams so that each team taught one mini‐lecture and one role‐playing group. Teaching teams taught seven sessions in which each mini‐lecture/role‐playing pair of groups received parallel subject matter. Following instruction, two outcome measures were administered: (1) an achievement post‐test measuring factual recall, and (2) a measure of facilitative communication. Results indicated that mini‐lectures were more effective than role‐playing in effecting student mastery of factual information. There were no significant differences between the instructional treatments in teaching facilitative communication skills.