The common teaching goal of two different phantom head courses was to enable the students to provide an all-ceramic restoration by the means of computer technology. The aim of this study was to compare these two courses with regard to the different educational methods using identical computer software. Undergraduate dental students from a single…

Introduction: This study examined the validity of tensiometry as an objective method of assessing the improvements in the quality of knots and technical performance due to practice on suturing and knot-tying skills. Methods: We evaluated the quality of 1,830 knots produced by undergraduate medical students before training (pre-test), after…

Introduction: Racially segregated schooling, a legacy of Apartheid policies, continues to hamper education in South Africa. Students entering university from suboptimal circumstances are at significant risk of demonstrating poor academic performance and dropping out of their programmes. Attempts to address the educational needs of these students…

Despite the General Medical Council emphasising the value of service users to medical students' education, there is scant literature about service user involvement in medical education. Although some research has outlined the effectiveness of service users as teachers, none has explored social issues surrounding how medical students learn "with"…

The term "altruism" is often used without definition, leading to contradictions in what we expect from medical students. In this reflection paper, we critique the concept of "altruism" from the perspective of moral philosophy and social psychology and challenge its unquestioned usage within the medical education literature, especially that…

Although there is consensus among medical educators that students must receive training in the biomedical sciences, little is known regarding the role of biomedical knowledge in diagnosis. The present paper presents two studies examining the role of biomedical knowledge, specifically knowledge of causal mechanisms, in novice diagnosticians. In…

Although biomedical knowledge is believed to be of little value in diagnosis of routine clinical cases, studies of clinical reasoning have found that physicians revert to use of basic biomedical knowledge when faced with challenging clinical problems. The current paper presents two experiments that empirically examine the role of biomedical…

Aim: In a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum, tutor's feedback skills are important. However, evaluation studies often show that students rate many tutors as ineffective in providing feedback. We explored whether this is related: (a) to tutors' skills, and hence a teaching intervention might improve their performance; (b) to the formulation…

The purpose of this study was to compare four distinct Hawaiian districts on the island of Oahu regarding their efforts in presenting quality health education and physical activity. The ethnic groups represented in this study included Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Asian and Caucasian. Questionnaires based on the Action for Healthy Kids Healthy…

As the use of instructional technology continues to escalate, it is not surprising that universities are attempting to reach new student markets by using technology. Many of the benefits and barriers to asynchronous distance education (ADE) have been examined over the years; however, few have explored these constructs from the student's…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the health education profession and discipline in India. Materials from CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, and Internet were collected to conduct the open coding of the SWOT analysis. Strengths of health education in India include an elaborate…

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic (Taylor et al., 2003; UNAIDS/UNICEF/WHO, 2000; Eaton, Flishera and Arob, 2002; Prat, et al., 2000). Nigeria is one of the most afflicted sub-Saharan nations (UNAIDS, 2002). Rivers State, a major industrial area of Nigeria and the nerve center of the oil industry, represents a…

Unfortunately, the influence of friendships is a neglected area of investigation in studies of youth physical activity. This study investigated the degree to which three friendship variables (ability to make friends, level of involvement with friends, perceived friends' involvement in exercise/physical activity) was associated with physical…

This paper describes the prevalence of depression and suicidal tendencies as well as risk factors for attempted suicide among students in Bolivia. Adolescents 13-18 years old (182 females, 394 males) from randomly selected schools in La Paz completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Frequencies and logistic regression were used to identify…

The goals of this case study were to: (1) determine the efficiency and effectiveness of three survey methods--postal mail survey, web-based survey, and random in-class administration survey--in assessing tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors among college students and (2) compare the response rate and procedures of these three methods. There was…