A comparison of attitudes and final grades among freshman dental students.
A study was conducted to determine if a change in dental students' attitudes toward three preselected concepts would occur as a result of a traditionally difficult gross anatomy course. In addition, an attempt was made to determine the predictive value of a student's attitudes in determining his or her final grade. The study employed Campbell and Stanley's one group pretest-posttest design. The results indicated that students' attitudes toward a difficult course and themselves did not change significantly, but that a significant negative change did occur in their attitude toward the entire dental educational experience. The results also indicated that students' attitudes toward specific concepts can be successfully employed to predict a portion of their final grade.
D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education; D001290:Attitude; D004497:Education, Dental; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D012649:Self Concept; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*