Influence of students' self‐directed learning on situational interest: A prospective randomised study

Introduction Evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed interactive 3D head and neck software package on students' situational interest and knowledge acquisition. Material and Methods A prospective randomised controlled study was carried out on two groups of dental students, 25 each. The study group “A” received education on head and neck anatomy using an interactive 3D software package. The same content was delivered to the students in group B via the standard PowerPoint presentation. The same lecturer delivered the educational modules over 80 min. Throughout the course of learning, the students completed a situational interest questionnaire, every 20 min. At the end of the session, each participant completed a knowledge acquisition test. Results Wilcoxon signed‐rank sum test showed a clear difference in the pattern of situational interest between the two groups; a statistically significant drop in the interest in the head and neck was noted amongst the students after 40 min in group B (p