A self-instructional approach to gross anatomy: evaluation of five years experience.

A largely self-instructional teaching method in gross anatomy for dental students, developed and tested over five years at the University of Louisville, is presented and evaluated. The merits of the method include reduced faculty teaching load, the potential to accommodate increased numbers of students without comparable increases in faculty or physical plant, apparent improvement in the quality of instruction, student satisfaction, early identification of marginal students, and conservation of cadavers.