University of Michigan News Service – UM News

School of Dentistry’s Ignelzi wins national teaching award

ANN ARBOR—A University of Michigan School of Dentistry instructor is the recipient of a top award from a national dental organization.

Dr. Michael Ignelzi, an assistant professor of dentistry in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, will receive the Charles Craig Teaching Award from Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU), the national dental society, during its national meeting next month. The national organization’s award honors an individual who uses innovative teaching techniques in his or her classroom which, in turn, both educate students and motivate them to be lifelong learners.

Ignelzi’s instructional methods include using popular television game show formats in teaching pathology and anomalies. Dr. Lysle Johnston, department chair, said students “respond with an enthusiasm that, given my experience teaching the same students, is nothing short of amazing.”

One format Ignelzi uses is based on the game show “Jeopardy!” Once each fall, students are divided into six or seven teams. Each team has 14 or 15 students. Teams find information about different dental topics before coming to class and then use this newly discovered knowledge in class to compete for prizes—milk and chocolate chip cookies baked by Ignelzi’s wife.

“This approach, which is entirely student driven, achieves several objectives,” Ignelzi said. “First and foremost, students learn how to discover new and relevant information. Second, once they discover something about a condition they are responsible for, they become excited to learn more. The third is that they learn to work together as a team because much of what they do in their careers will involve collaboration. The fourth is to have fun in the process.”

In addition to teaching predoctoral students in all four years of the School’s curriculum, Ignelzi teaches a dentistry course to undergraduate students at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; is a mentor to students at predoctoral, graduate, and doctoral levels; has developed and teaches three continuing education programs for dentists, hygienists, and assistants; and conducts research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, studying birth defects that affect the face and skull.

Ignelzi will receive his award March 3 at OKU’s annual meeting in San Diego, Calif.

The U-M School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction train future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. More information is available on the Web at http://www.dent.umich.edu.