Abstract:

  Background and Aim: Diverse teaching strategies have an imperative impact on learning process. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of practical-theoretical vs. theoretical-practical based teaching methods on learning process of dental anatomy and student's satisfaction in general.

  Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial cross over study was performed on 72 second-year dental students .The students were randomly divided into two experimental groups (A and B) .In the first phase, anatomy of the maxillary central incisors was presented to group A by theoretical-practical method(control group) and to group B by practical-theoretical method (experimental group) . In the second phase, anatomy of the mandibular central incisors was presented and the two group were switched. The learning adequacy in each group was assessed by a standard test at the end. The data was analyzed by Mann-U-Whitney test.

  Results : Total of 72 second-year dental students were assessed, Mean age was (21.2±1.5) and %68 of them were female and %32 were male. Reported scores in practical-theoretical teaching method was 16.8±0.8 and in theoretical-practical teaching method was 15.2±0.9. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). The score for student's satisfaction in practical- theoretical teaching method was 4.4±0.6 and for theoretical-practical teaching method was 3.3±0.8. This difference was statistically significant. (p<0.001)

  Conclusion : The practical-theoretical method of instruction appears to be more effective than the traditional lecture based education. Furthermore, higher students’ satisfaction is reported with this means of education.