DENTAL STUDENTS PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS BIOSTATISTICS Esen ERSOY1* 1 Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics Education, University, Samsun, Turkey
[email protected] SUNER2 2 Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Ege University, , Turkey
[email protected] We aimed to assess the problem solving skills and attitudes of dental students towards biostatistics course. The study involved 90 first year dental undergraduate students enrolled in a two-credit mandatory biostatistics course in 2014-2015 at the Faculty of Dentistry, Ege University. Problem solving skills were evaluated according to Polya's problem solving stages. The answers that the students have given to the problems have been analyzed by the researchers. Each problem has been evaluated according to four basic steps: understanding the problem, choosing the strategy, the implementation of the selected strategy and the evaluation of the solution. Attitudes of the students were determined by using the nine point likert type scale which validity and reliability have already been studied. Reliability analysis for pretest and posttest was conducted and Cronbach Alpha coefficients for the points of total scale, and scale sub-dimensions were obtained. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to check the normality of the attitude scores. Since students are asked to fill out the attitude scale without taking personal information, unpaired t-test was used for comparing attitude scores of pretest and posttest. and 0.68 for pretest and posttest, respectively. posttest attitude scores, a statistically significant difference was existed (p=0.019). Findings have revealed that students have no difficulty in understanding the problem and choosing the strategy. However, students had some trouble with the implementation of the selected strategy and the evaluation of the solution. Consequently, the biostatistics course was positively affected the attitudes of the students, and problem solving skills of the students are effective. In conclusion, the biostatistics course in dentistry faculty is successfully instructed. Keywords: Dental Students; Biostatistics Course; Problem Solving Skills; Student Attitudes. References [1] , M. (2001). An application of structural equation modeling techniques in the prediction of statistics anxiety among college students [dissertation]. Texas: Texas A&M University. [2] Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (1998). The dimensions of statistics anxiety: A comparison of prevalence rates among mid-southern university students. J Louisiana Educ Research, 23, 23-40. [3] Onwuegbuzie, A. J. & Seaman, M. (1995). The effect of time and anxiety on statistics achievement. J Exp Psychol, 63, 115-124. [4] Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Da Ros, D., Ryan, JM. (1997). The Components of Statistics Anxiety: A Phenomenological Study. Focus Learn Probl Math, 19(4): 11-35. [5] Royse, D. & Rompf, E. L. (1992). Math anxiety: A comparison of social work and non social work students. J Soc Work Educ, 28(3): 270-278.
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