An Updated Insight into Learning Approach of Government Sector Dental Students in Balochistan

Introduction: Learning approach is impacted by character attributes, domain of study, assignments assigned and requirements of medical/dental program. This helps in acquiring cognition through surface and deep learning that influences the amount and standard of learner’s acquisition of knowledge. Aims & Objectives: The objective of this work was to appraise Learning Approach (Deep or Surface Learning) of dental students at a public sector medical college. Place and duration of study: Bolan Medical College, Quetta, June-November 2016. Material & Methods: After ethical approval, a descriptive observational Census was conducted using RLS tool on 85 BDS (Bachelors of Dental Surgery) students at Bolan Medical College, Quetta. Data was collected on 14 RLS Likert scale variables and analyzed with SPSS version 20. Results: Eighty-five students participated in study; the response rate was 89.4%. Females constituted 72% of the participants with a mean composite RLS score of 64.26 ± 12.46. Highest mean score was noted for variable 6 (aware of learning task 6.07 + 1.46) with 85% reporting a positive attitude, followed by 71% on variable 14 (self-assess 5.36+ 1.95),68% on variable 12 (use capacity to reflect 5.24 + 1.66) and variable 8 (ponder for learning 5.24 + 1.59). Sixtyseven percent students were able to eliminate study related negative feelings. No statistically significant differences were found between genders and four academic years on all 14 items. Conclusion: BDS students demonstrated deep learning behavior through mitigating their negative thinking, memorizing learned material, self-assessment of their work and clarifying concepts by making association among themes to better understand the acquired knowledge and impression about subjects.