Objective: With the regulation for the reorganization of dental education, the legislature restructured dental studies and among other things, called for a strenghtening of interdisciplinary training. This requirement was the basis for the development of an interdisciplinary curriculum in which the topic of “dental traumatology” was to be taught across disciplines. It was investigated whether a measurable increase in learning could be achieved. Methodology: The newly designed curriculum was developed on the basis of the National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue for Dentistry (NKLZ) and was implemented in the summer semester of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teaching module had to be modified significantly. In order to determine the students learning gains, an examination form was completed online before (T0) and after (T1) the curriculum. The exam paper consisted of knowledge questions and questions on two case vignettes. Results: The results showed a significant increase in learning in the knowledge questions (p<0.05). The case vignettes presented a heterogeneous picture. In case vignette V(1), a significant increase in learning was achieved among students in the eighth (p=0.027) and tenth (p=0.022) semesters, but not among those in the sixth semester (p=0.323). In case vignette V(2), a significant increase in learning was observed in the sixth (p=0.011) and tenth (p=0.003) semesters, but not in the eighth semester (p=0.298). The students evaluated the newly developed curriculum with a good rating. Conclusion: The interdisciplinary curriculum led to an increase in learning among the students. However, the heterogeneous results of the case vignettes show that even interdisciplinary lectures are not very efficient in acquiring the competence of “transfer thinking”. Nevertheless, interdisciplinary teaching formats should shape the future of dental education, but they should be supplemented by interactive elements.
Peters et al. (Wed,) studied this question.