Biomedical subjects

W C Berlocher

Publications and source records attributed to W C Berlocher.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1987

A four-year longitudinal study of dental student learning styles.

Based on research conducted simultaneously but independently in Europe, Australia, and North America, several new learning style inventories have been developed with well-recognized theoretical foundations and sound psychometric properties. One of the instruments, the Gregorc Learning Style Delineator, was used to study the perceived learning styles of 48 dental students as they proceeded through the four years of the curriculum. Students scored significantly higher on one of four possible learning style dimensions during each year of the curriculum. This dimension, the concrete sequential, is associated with the following learning style characteristics: preference for factual over abstract information, desire for a highly organized learning environment with considerable hands-on opportunity, but free from distractions or ambiguity about learning tasks. Students' preference for the concrete sequential dimension increased significantly as they progressed toward graduation, suggesting that the learning environment of the dental school actually served to reinforce the students' initial predisposition toward the concrete sequential orientation.

Curriculum↗

PubMed1985

Faculty learning styles.

Learning style is defined as an individual's preferred way of acquiring information. The purpose of this study was to determine the predominant learning styles of dental students in five consecutive classes and to determine the extent of the match or mismatch between student learning styles and faculty learning styles. Results indicate that a majority of students in the dental school classes possess one particular learning style--concrete sequential. Although slight differences did exist between the distributions of learning styles of the faculty and the dental school classes, the differences were not significant. Previous research has demonstrated that the typical dental school graduate has attributes similar to the concrete sequential learner. Based on this finding, it seems likely that most concrete sequential learners will adapt well to the private practice environment. An important question, however, is whether the contemporary dental school environment, which seems to encourage concrete sequential learning style, is conducive to the development of the intellectual and technical skills that dentists will need to practice in the 21st century.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗

PubMed1984