Experiential service learning is an educational approach that combines theory and practice by giving students the opportunity to participate in services that meet the needs of their communities and reflect on that experience in class to gain a deeper understanding of the course content. is. [7]. It is becoming increasingly popular and has applications in many areas of higher education, such as public health. [2–3, 8]nursing education [9]engineering education [10]hospitality education [11] and so on. This project provides an example of a service-learning experiential teaching approach in dental education. In fact, there have been numerous service learning applications in the field of dental hygiene. [12,13,14]“Oral Health on Wheels,” etc. [12].Differences from other oral health education programs [12,13,14], This project integrated theoretical learning, dental epidemiology research, data analysis, creation of scientific oral health education materials, and oral health education. Students used the data they collected to identify oral problems and oral health knowledge encountered by children in kindergarten. Throughout the project, they learned how to conduct oral health surveys, provide oral health education, and apply the knowledge learned in theory classes to real-world practice. This program not only improved students’ community service abilities, but also improved their ability to create scientific oral health education materials.
Previous research has reported that experiential service learning can lead to significant changes in students’ understanding of expertise. [7]. Similar to previous studies, these findings also indicate that experiential service learning enhances students’ understanding of their expertise and improves their theoretical performance. This phenomenon can be explained by two reasons. First, service learning engages students in active learning. They participated in this project and learned by reflecting on their experiences. This is more effective than traditional methods such as lectures and readings. [15]. Second, experiential service learning provides students with the ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world situations, providing opportunities to serve and positively impact the community. This is beneficial for understanding the relevance and practical applications. Not only will it provide you with a rewarding and meaningful experience, but you will also benefit from your coursework.
Experiential service learning can only help students develop a variety of professional and personal skills, such as communication, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork, that are highly valuable in many areas of career and life. It also strengthens the relationship between faculty and students. [8, 16,17,18]. Currently, the dentist-to-resident ratio in China is approximately 1:8000. [19]This is much lower than the approximately 1:5000 recommended by the WHO in developing countries. [20], suggesting that China’s oral health resources are inadequate. Additional preventive measures are needed and oral disease prevention or oral health promotion activities should be intensified. Oral health education helps the population develop good oral health habits, and oral exams allow problems to be detected early and addressed in a timely manner. Therefore, oral health examinations and oral education are effective means to prevent oral diseases. Through the oral health examination and education program, students can not only acquire knowledge of oral epidemiology, but also improve oral examination skills and cultivate public health service concepts.
Although experiential service learning is a powerful teaching method with many benefits for students, there are some potential drawbacks and challenges.Inequalities of experience and potential risks can be obvious drawbacks of experiential service learning pedagogy [21]. Some students may have more opportunities for meaningful experiential service learning because they are extroverted. Additionally, experiential service learning relies on external partners such as communities, which can present additional challenges if these partnerships are not well established or cannot meet student demands. there is. This study has several shortcomings. First, the dental students did not perform consistency checks in the field, which may affect the reliability of the caries data. Second, the three grades’ questionnaires were in perfect agreement, which may be unreasonable. Children in junior classes may not fully understand the meaning of questions such as “Can sealing the epigastrium or fissure prevent cavities?” Third, the project did not involve evaluation, so it was unclear how effective the intervention was in improving outcomes for preschoolers.
There are several suggestions for oral health screening and education projects. First, a major challenge was communicating with the community. Course dates had to be changed many times, which inevitably affected students’ practical learning. That’s why you should communicate with your community and confirm visiting hours before creating your schedule. Additionally, establishing multiple community partners and preparing alternatives before class can serve as an effective way to address the problem of class postponement. Another challenge is that students do not have sufficient skills to examine the oral cavity of all children within a limited time. Furthermore, according to student feedback, they expected to receive preview materials before theory classes to deepen their understanding of the course and improve their efficiency. Therefore, preview materials such as videos and interactive tutorials on oral examination should be distributed before the theoretical lessons. Furthermore, before going out into the community, it is necessary to conduct on-the-job training such as simulated clinical training to acquire the skills necessary for oral examinations and to gain confidence in performing oral health examinations on children.