The training of the dentist in the XXIst century: research as a pedagogical principle

Abstract

We are living a paradigmatic transitional moment. The professional of the XXIst century must be prepared to face these new changes. He or she should be able to create and recreate solutions. The educational process experienced in our Universities has often been based on a traditional teaching practice that conceives students as mere recipients of readyto-use and finished contents. As a result, the authentic act of thinking is undermined, as reproductive thoughts prevail over innovative ideas. On the other hand, there is another kind of teaching practice that exceeds the limits of reproduction and is based on creativity and stimulates action-reflection, thus preparing a reflective professional, as presented by Schön12 (2000). Under this conception of education, students feel challenged to explore and deepen their knowledge, to question and rethink the current knowledge. In order to make this assumption real, research should be adopted as a pedagogical principle, as proposed by Demo2 (1998). This article intended to analyze the guidelines which could be adopted as a reference for the training of a dentist in the context of the XXIst century, to identify the requirements faced by such a professional, and to analyze research as a pedagogical principle in the training of the next-generation dentists. The theorists chosen to substantiate this article were Edgar Morin, Paulo Freire, Pedro Demo and Donald Schön.