title: Student self-evaluation in preclinical restorative dentistry.
abstract: In this study an instrument for assessing student self-evaluation skills was developed and refined. Using this instrument, the relationship between student self-evaluation skills and psychomotor skill performance was assessed for freshman dental students in a preclinical restorative dentistry laboratory. While previous research suggests that student self-evaluation skills are positively correlated with technical skills, the results of this study indicate that students' technical skills, as evidenced by the faculty-assigned practical grades, did not differentiate students' self-evaluation skills (p less than .05). In addition, student grades did not differentiate the students' ability to recognize errors. Using this investigative method, no relationship emerged between students' self-evaluation skills and technical skills. Finally, this self-evaluation instrument appears to be an excellent way to reveal to faculty those aspects of psychomotor skill development that need to be emphasized.
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs / Q000379:methods*; D013335:Students, Dental