Evaluation of Dental Students' Performance in Periodontology Course According to Their Learning Styles.

Abstract

Purpose/objectives: This study was designed to distinguish learning styles among dental students and correlate them with their academic performance in periodontology courses by using the Grasha-Riechmann Learning Style Scale.

Methods: One hundred eleven third-year dental students (72 female and 39 male) in the academic year 2023-2024 from Health Sciences University Gülhane Faculty of Dentistry in Ankara, Turkey, were participating. Grasha-Riechmann Learning Style Scale, which consists of 60 questions and evaluates learning styles in six subcategories, was applied to the students. All students who agreed to participate in the study answered the questionnaire at a rate of 100%. While theoretical performance was evaluated with a final exam at the end of the year, students were asked to remove dental calculus on a model in the preclinical laboratory to measure practical performance. The study used descriptive statistics and checked for normal distribution with the Shapiro-Wilk test. Non-normal data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test for group comparisons, while Spearman correlations examined relationships between continuous variables. For categorical variables, Pearson chi-square or Fisher's exact test was applied, with all analyses conducted in SPSS 25.

Results: Dependent learning style was found to be the dominant style among the students. The lowest mean total score was obtained for the competitive learning style. No relationship was found between students' learning styles and their gender, periodontology practical, or theoretical grade point averages.

Conclusions: Dental students exhibit different learning styles, but these styles do not impact their practical or theoretical success in the periodontology course. Further research with larger samples is needed to explore the influence of learning styles on their education in this area.