Learning in oral biology: a comparison between deep and surface approaches.

It has been suggested that students approach their learning in at least two qualitatively different ways. In the surface approach, students see tasks as being imposed, for which they develop coping strategies focused on reproduction of essentials and memorising information for assessment rather than for understanding. In the deep approach, students seek to understand ideas to allow them to relate and integrate knowledge from other parts of their study and thereby develop conceptual frameworks from which they can derive solutions to novel problems. To these two approaches, a third, achieving approach, is often added, in which students aim to obtain the highest grades, whether or not they grasp the learning material. In this study we used a subject-specified version of Biggs' Study Process Questionnaire to obtain data about the way dental and dental technology students perceived and approached their learning in oral biology. Questionnaires were distributed to 62 second-year dental students and 23 second-year dental technology students. Within each group the dependent variables examined were deep, surface or achieving approaches to learning. Analysis of these data showed that significant differences between dental and dental technology students centred on their approaches to learning. However, there were no significant differences attributable to gender, country of origin or ethnicity. While dental students, who had a relatively well developed understanding of the nature of their studies in oral biology at the start of their course, adopted deep learning strategies, dental technology students, who had had no prior experience of university education per se, were significantly more surface-orientated.