Proposal #00-05

"The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skill and Learning Style"

As dental education transforms to meet current standards, dental hygiene educators have been challenged to develop and promote critical thinking skills in their students. A focus on learning has also been evident in dental hygiene education with the implementation of problem-based learning, case-based study and other alternatives to traditional lecture-based presentations. This study seeks to assess critical thinking and learning in dental hygiene education.

The purpose of this research is to: (1) determine first year dental hygiene students' individual learning styles and critical thinking skills in two different dental hygiene schools and (2) determine whether these individual styles correlate with their respective critical thinking ability. Establishment of a relationship between critical thinking skill and learning styles in dental hygiene students could serve as a preliminary foundation for promoting students' success in dental hygiene education and patient care.

This corollary study consists of a sample of first year dental hygiene students from two baccalaureate programs that are affiliated with dental schools (n=70 approximately). Each subject will be administered a total of three indices: (1) the California Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), (2) the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) and (3) the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (Kolb LSI).

Descriptive analysis will be used to differentiate the data for each student at both schools and an attempt to find patterns between critical thinking and learning styles will be made. CCTST scores, CCTDI scores and Kolb LSI classifications will provide three independent variables that have various levels, making the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) an appropriate measure for data analysis.