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Which schools have it, and what are the pros and cons of each?
Systems Based Learning and Pass/Fail
- Thread starter gujudentist
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i'm sorry but what is system based learning? that is not the same as PBL is it?
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PBL stands for problem based learning.
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In the traditional dental / medical school, students go through separate classes covering Biochemistry, Genetics, Gross Anatomy, Histology, Immunology, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Pathology, Physiology, Pharmacology, etc.
In the schools that use system-based learning, all of the abovementioned courses (and more) are integrated together in the study of the major systems of the body (i.e. Blood and Lymph, Cardiovascular, Endocrine, Gastrointestinal, Musculoskeletal, Nervous, Renal, Reproductive, Respiratory, Skin).
Under SBL, rather than learning about the individual "pieces" of human biology, you're essentially learning how the pieces fit together ...
In the schools that use system-based learning, all of the abovementioned courses (and more) are integrated together in the study of the major systems of the body (i.e. Blood and Lymph, Cardiovascular, Endocrine, Gastrointestinal, Musculoskeletal, Nervous, Renal, Reproductive, Respiratory, Skin).
Under SBL, rather than learning about the individual "pieces" of human biology, you're essentially learning how the pieces fit together ...
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SBL advantages are that you overall have fewer tests and material is taught all together by system as noted in previous posts...which some people may find easier because they see how all the bits and pieces relate to the system. The approach is adopted in many medical schools today and a handful of dental schools. Michigan uses integrated systems approach. However for a school with Michigans reputation, their average board I scores aren't as impressive as you would think (SBL isn't necessarioy the cause, but it's an interesting potential correlation). Most dental schools that adopt this approach have only done so recently and their curriculum is in a 'debugging' phase if you will. this is what students there told me during interviews.
Drawbacks of SBL is that you have different people teaching different systems back to back...and their requirements of what you need to know and how the tests are formated are NOT nearly alike as one would predict and hope. You would hope that test difficulty and format are relatively consistent system to system in such an approach but it's hardly the case. Students in SBL systems complain of this feeling; that test after test, you NEVER know what's coming at you because it's test material chosen and prepared by a fresh instructor. Secondarily, I've heard that instructors may be specialists in the system, but they aren't entirely polished on some of the finer points, as their main research probably deals with a miniscule portion of the greater volume they are responsible to teach. Whereas a biochem instructor is generally an expert at biochem and all it's excruciating detail.
both systems work, it's just what you think you will learn best within.
as for pass/fail vs grades...it depends on your goals, if you want to specialize, there is some advantage to NOT having grades...as your potential residency placement will only have your board scores and your letters to weigh in comparison to other graded students with a class rank, board scores, and letters. BUT, if you screw your boards and have pass/fail grades, you're up $hit creek. The schools that have pass/fail are generally highly regarded, which is why they can get away with having pass/fail.
in the end dental school will give you what you put into it. if you want to barely pass, it won't take a ton of effort to do so and you'll be a dentist. if you want to place in endo/ortho/omfs/etc, you'll have to work hard to earn it and it won't matter if you had a p/f system or graded, or systems, or discrete courses.
Drawbacks of SBL is that you have different people teaching different systems back to back...and their requirements of what you need to know and how the tests are formated are NOT nearly alike as one would predict and hope. You would hope that test difficulty and format are relatively consistent system to system in such an approach but it's hardly the case. Students in SBL systems complain of this feeling; that test after test, you NEVER know what's coming at you because it's test material chosen and prepared by a fresh instructor. Secondarily, I've heard that instructors may be specialists in the system, but they aren't entirely polished on some of the finer points, as their main research probably deals with a miniscule portion of the greater volume they are responsible to teach. Whereas a biochem instructor is generally an expert at biochem and all it's excruciating detail.
both systems work, it's just what you think you will learn best within.
as for pass/fail vs grades...it depends on your goals, if you want to specialize, there is some advantage to NOT having grades...as your potential residency placement will only have your board scores and your letters to weigh in comparison to other graded students with a class rank, board scores, and letters. BUT, if you screw your boards and have pass/fail grades, you're up $hit creek. The schools that have pass/fail are generally highly regarded, which is why they can get away with having pass/fail.
in the end dental school will give you what you put into it. if you want to barely pass, it won't take a ton of effort to do so and you'll be a dentist. if you want to place in endo/ortho/omfs/etc, you'll have to work hard to earn it and it won't matter if you had a p/f system or graded, or systems, or discrete courses.
