DHED 408: Dental Hygiene Principles of Practice III
Julie Drury, RDH, CHPE, MS
Case Study Assignment
As a member of the first PTF Cohort, Julie Drury used the Paul-Elder framework to improve her students' understanding of critical thinking in their senior seminar course. As a part of their Culminating Undergraduate Experience, students were asked to create a case study based on a patient from their experiences. In order to ensure complete understanding of the application of the framework, Drury dedicated three class sessions to this activity.
The exposure to critical thinking through the classroom activity has assisted the students in future assignments.
As scaffolding for this assignment, Drury created a case study and handout explaining how to apply the eight Elements of Thought. As a class, the group went "around the wheel" to implement the Elements into a final case study product. The students then developed and presented their individual case study of a patient they had treated during their 4-week externship, utilizing the eight Elements.
Drury reported these case study assignments were significantly stronger once she helped her students deliberately apply critical thinking models and concepts. She has also noticed improvement on other assignments after having her students participate in this activity. She has requested permission to use what she has learned as part of the PTF Cohort with i2a to revamp the Dental Hygiene capstone assignment to reflect this particular classroom activity.
Download Elements of Thought worksheet [PDF].
Download Case Study Example [PDF].