Introducing Adelaide dental students to a problem-based learning curriculum.

A course designed to introduce new students to a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum in dentistry at the University of Adelaide is described. Australian students are admitted to the Adelaide dental course either directly from school (SL) or after one or more years of tertiary education (TT). The admissions process is designed to select academically able students who will flourish in a problem-based environment. Some international students (INT) are also selected through a modified admissions process. A 9-item questionnaire derived from frequently-asked questions from previous years was administered to the new students at the beginning and at the end of the introductory course, and each individual's responses before and after the course were compared. There was an increased number of positive responses (significant at P < 0.05 to 7 of the 9 items) after the course. Although the course appeared to be effective in familiarising new students with a PBL curriculum, many students were still uncertain about two items which commonly provoke anxiety, namely how to decide when to stop researching a topic, and how to balance group and solo learning.