Motivating the student in the psychiatry clerkship.

A study of student attitudes toward learning and their responses to instructional variables during clinical teaching suggests that a students' motivation to learn can be significantly enhanced by attention to the context in which instruction occurs. Beginning from the premises that the primary goal of teaching should be the encouragement of the learning process rather than the transmission of knowledge and that learning will be encouraged to the extent that it is consistent with the student's personal interests provides a foundation upon which a highly motivating curriculum can be constructed. This approach has specific implications for the design of psychiatry clerkships and in particular for the concepts of relevance, responsibility, and assessment in the clerkship setting.