Elangovan Satheesh, Venugopalan Shankar Rengasamy, Srinivasan Sreedevi, Karimbux Nadeem Y, Weistroffer Paula, Allareddy Veerasathpurush
Dr. Elangovan is Assistant Professor in Periodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics; Dr. Venugopalan is Assistant Professor in Orthodontics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry; Dr. Srinivasan is Assistant Professor in Orthodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics; Dr. Karimbux is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Periodontics, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Weistroffer is Clinical Associate Professor in Periodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics; and Dr. Allareddy is Associate Professor in Orthodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics.
J Dent Educ. 2016 Mar;80(3):281-90.
The integration of basic and clinical sciences in dental curricula enhances the application of basic science principles to clinical decision making and improves students' critical thinking. The aim of this study was to define the characteristics of U.S. dental schools' curricula with regard to level of course integration and degree of incorporation of problem-based and case-based learning. A second aim was to propose a dental curriculum that supports effective integration of courses and addresses some of the concerns facing academic dentistry. A survey was sent to 58 academic deans in U.S. dental schools. The survey included questions about integrating courses in the schools' curricula and major changes in curricular structure or teaching pedagogy that respondents anticipated in the immediate future. A total of 31 schools responded to the survey, for a 53.4% response rate. The results showed that three-quarters of the responding schools still teach basic and clinical sciences separately, although 61.3% reported having an integrated curriculum. Among the responding schools, 16 had a PBL component integrated into their curricula (two had integrated PBL in all courses and 14 used a hybrid PBL approach). Two schools had CBL integrated in all courses, and ten had CBL integrated in >75% of courses. Only slightly more than half agreed that their curricula foster students' thinking "outside the box." Faculty shortages and lack of protected time and resources were the most frequent reasons given for a lack of integrated courses. The integrated model proposed in this article has the potential to provide a low stress environment for students and to address important issues like faculty shortages.
牙科学课程中基础科学与临床科学的整合，增强了基础科学原理在临床决策中的应用，并提高了学生的批判性思维能力。本研究的目的是确定美国牙科学院课程在课程整合水平以及基于问题的学习和基于案例的学习的纳入程度方面的特点。第二个目的是提出一种牙科学课程，以支持课程的有效整合，并解决牙科学术领域面临的一些问题。向美国牙科学院的58位学术院长发送了一份调查问卷。该问卷包括有关学校课程中课程整合以及受访者预计在不久的将来课程结构或教学方法的重大变化的问题。共有31所学校回复了问卷，回复率为53.4%。结果显示，四分之三的回复学校仍将基础科学和临床科学分开教授，尽管61.3%的学校报告称有综合课程。在回复的学校中，有16所学校在其课程中纳入了基于问题的学习部分（两所学校在所有课程中都纳入了基于问题的学习，14所学校采用了混合式基于问题的学习方法）。两所学校在所有课程中都纳入了基于案例的学习，十所学校在超过75%的课程中纳入了基于案例的学习。只有略超过一半的学校同意他们的课程培养学生“跳出框框”的思维。师资短缺以及缺乏受保护的时间和资源是缺乏综合课程最常给出的原因。本文提出的综合模式有可能为学生提供一个压力较小的环境，并解决诸如师资短缺等重要问题。
