A model of experiential learning for teenagers’ caries-protective diet

Abstract

Teenagers’ reluctance to learning in general and their demand for non-traditional, interactive leaning methods, on one hand, and the difficulties in changing the oral health-related behaviors, on the other hand, represent a permanent challenge for oral health educators. Experiential learning was developed by David Kolb and promotes the concept of learning by doing, and with better chances for teenagers to get engaged in the educational process using as learning cycle: concrete experience (“Do”), observation and reflection (“Observe”), forming abstract concepts (“Think”), testing in new situation (“Plan”). As part of the “Com4You” oral health promotion program, Department of Oral Heath and Community Dentistry from Faculty of Dentistry, UMF “Carol Davila”, Bucharest, designed educational lessons using experiential learning and applied them in small groups of teenagers in schools. The present article describes the two activities used in Com4You program for promotion of caries-preventive diet for adolescents, that conducted to a decrease in the consumption of cariogenic food compared to control group (traditional learning) as shown by the results of a 2 -year longitudinal study. The activities performed in small groups (5-10 subjects) and with a medium duration of 15 minutes each, aimed to raise the awareness on the proper eating behavior in preventing dental caries and to offer a better understanding of the food products characteristics that makes them cariogenic/caries-protective.