The Effect of Microteaching Combined with the BOPPPS Model on Dental Materials Education for Predoctoral Dental Students

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of microteaching combined with the BOPPPS method (bridge-in, learning objective, pretest, participatory learning, posttest, and summary) on a dental materials course for predoctoral dental students. Participants were 105 fourth-year students in a dental school in China in 2016 and 2017. The control group consisted of 51 students who received conventional teaching, while the experimental group consisted of 54 students who received dental materials education from teachers using microteaching combined with the BOPPPS method. Teaching effectiveness was evaluated by all students after each class, and examination scores for the two groups were compared. The results showed that the evaluations of teacher performance in the experimental group were superior to those in the control group in two areas: effectiveness of communication and clear interpretation of abstract ideas and theories. The evaluation scores for teaching effectiveness were significantly better for the experimental group than for the control group (students were encouraged to participate in class discussion, instructor stimulated interest in the course subject, instructor encouraged students to think for themselves, students learned and understood the subject materials in the course). In addition, the experimental group had significantly higher examination scores than the control group. These results suggest that microteaching based on the BOPPPS model could stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of dental students, improve students' thinking ability, help teachers generate innovative teaching ideas, and improve teaching quality. The findings provide a scientific and rigorous theoretical basis for the promotion of this combined teaching model in various disciplines.