Attempt to introduce a new educational program in the clinical clerkship of operative dentistry for 5th grade students, School of Dentistry,Matsumoto Dental University:Part 1. Collaborative learning through preparation of the examination questions regarding clinical cases

Summary In the academic year (AY) 2020, a new educational program began to be implementedduring the clinical training period of the fifth–year at the Department of Operative Dentistry,Matsumoto Dental University Hospital. The effectiveness of the introduction of one of these programs, preparation of the examination questions regarding clinical cases, was examined based on the evaluation of a questionnaire survey completed by the participating students. A total of 72 students of clinical clerkship program in the fifth grade of the AY 2020 participated in a preparation of the examination questions regarding clinical cases.Small group discussions were used for this exercise. Each group consisted of four students,and the exercise was conducted in two groups. One or two assistant professors or lecturer took turns serving as tutors for each session. First, visual materials of some cases were provided to the students, who discussed them in groups and identified clinical problems in each case. First, the students were provided with visual materials of four cases and discussed them in groups to identify clinical problems in each case. Then, in a one–hour group work, students prepared one examination questions regarding clinical cases according to the question preparation sheet. Next, the students presented the question prepared by each group, shared the question among the groups, and had a discussion to brush up the examination question among the students. The tutor explained the main points to make the exam questions better, focusing on the points raised by the students during the discussion. After the exercise, an anonymous questionnaire was administered to the participants regarding the difficulty level of the preparation of the examination questions regarding clinical cases, the effectiveness of the exercise in improving their knowledge of operative dentistry, and the group work. 94% of the students answered that the exercise was “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult,” but a very high percentage (99%)of the students answered that “this exercise was effective in deepening my knowledge ofoperative dentistry. In the group work, 68% of the students answered that their contribution was 60% or more. Therefore, the new educational program, collaborative learning through preparation of the examination questions regarding clinical cases, was generally well received by the students and was considered effective in improving their knowledge of operative dentistry