Peer assisted team-based learning in undergraduate dental education

Abstract

The teaching system has seen an evolution in the same regard, from blackboard teaching to whiteboard teaching to smart board teaching. We now step foot into a new era of teaching with fresher minds to influence and shape. The present study mainly focuses on a rather new method of teaching called ‘Peer lead Team-based learning'. The method focuses mainly on the students and their active participation in the involved topic. To conduct the study, a batch of dental students were taught and were later assessed. The students thus specified are undergraduate students who were pursuing their 2nd year BDS at Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals. The total number of students that were considered was about thirty-three students. The students were of the age group of about 19-23 years. The subject that was imparted to these students in this method is Dental Materials which was initially perceived to be difficult by the 2nd year candidates. On completion of the period of study, the students were asked to take up an exam in the usual pattern prescribed by the University. The marks thus obtained were analysed with the previous tests and a questionnaire was filled by each student to obtain their perception towards this teaching system. On the analysis of the test scores, it was obtained that there was a significant difference in the average class score. There was a mean difference of about 8-11 marks on analysis of various tests. Thus this proves that the teaching system is immensely efficient. The responses from the questionnaire were assessed and it proved that the teaching system is welcomed by the student community. The teaching system is successful in a dental curriculum and under ideal conditions the system would be successful in other courses but has to be tested to confirm the same.