The use of anonymous pop-quizzes as an innovative teaching–learning tool to reinforce learning among undergraduate dental students

Abstract

Context: To improve the success of higher education, various innovative teaching–learning tools are being incorporated by the instructors while planning their classes. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of anonymous pop-quizzes (APQs) on undergraduate dental students' performance. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, comparative study was carried out on 20 third-year and 24 final-year dental students. Two different technologies were used to find out the impact of each teaching–learning tool on learning on the same topic “Use of Fluorides in Dentistry” among third-year and final-year BDS students. The first tool was conventional lectures and the second tool used was APQ. One week later, the responses of both the final-year and third-year students were obtained on a ten-question quiz to evaluate the difference in understanding and retention of knowledge of the topic. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Descriptive statistics were carried out and an unpaired t-test was applied. Results: Average test scores of final-year and third-year students were 41.00 ± 3.81and 34.00 ± 3.83, respectively, which showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.00). Final-year students' feedbacks indicated that the use of APQs improved the knowledge and understanding of the topics and clarified the doubts. Conclusions: The use of APQs led to reinforced learning among BDS final-year students.