Open Wide and Trek Inside has several objectives. The first is to help students understand major concepts related to oral health. By focusing on the science of the oral environment, the module goes beyond the traditional "brushing and flossing" curriculum and presents to students the ways science has helped people understand how to take proper care of their mouths and the structures within.
The second objective of the module is to engage students in the nature of science through inquiry. As students ask and answer questions about their mouths, they model the process scientists use to find out more about the natural world.
Science plays an important role in assisting individuals as they make choices about enhancing personal and public health. In this module, students see that science provides evidence that can be used to support ways of understanding and treating oral health and disease. Because the mission of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research is to improve and promote craniofacial, oral, and dental health, the Institute believes that education provides one context in which it can fulfill its mission. The lessons in this module encourage students to think about the relationships among knowledge, choice, behavior, and enhanced human health in this way:
* knowledge (what is known and not known) + choice = power
* power + behavior = enhanced human health
An additional objective of this module is to encourage students to think in terms of these relationships now and as they grow older, and to use their knowledge of the oral environment to affect positive behaviors that enhance their oral health.
