Teaching dental materials using the personalized system of instruction.

Tailoring instruction to the individual needs of students is one approach to ensuring that students with lower scholastic aptitudes obtain the skills and knowledge necessary to function successfully as professionals. This study determined the effects of the personalized system of instruction (PSI) on end-of-course achievement, aptitude-achievement relationships, long-term retention, and course attitudes. The PSI method of instruction was compared to a conventional lecture/laboratory approach for teaching a dental materials course to dental hygiene students. Although there was no significant difference between conventionally taught and PSI students on the end-of-term final examination, lower aptitude students in the PSI class scored significantly higher on the final examination than lower aptitude students in the conventional class. Of students completing a one-year retention examination, those in the PSI class scored significantly higher than students in the conventionally taught class. Student course ratings favored PSI instruction both at the end of the course and at the one-year follow-up interval.