Research on learning communities has primarily focused on identifying institutional outcomes such as student achievement and retention. However, more research is needed on how the learning community experience impacts the motivation, beliefs, and perceptions associated with student success. This study investigates the psychosocial effects of participating in a residential research-oriented learning community regarding students’ interest and motivation in pursuing research-oriented careers, research and data self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belongingness with the learning community, and socialization levels and career awareness in research-oriented fields. This study also investigated the mediating effects of students’ initial research self-efficacy beliefs on differential gains regarding career awareness, motivation and interest, and sense of belongingness and socialization after one year of participating in a residential research-oriented learning community. Participants of the study consisted of five cohorts of the learning community, each composed of twenty students. Students in each cohort participated in a pretest-posttest design survey study. Findings suggest that alignment of student interest with the learning community discipline is a key mediator of student growth in their self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belongingness with the learning community and levels of socialization, and career awareness in the selected field. Implications include recommendations for the thoughtful design of learning communities that promote cognitive apprenticeships by orchestrating the content, method, sequencing, and sociology of the learning environment.

对学习社区的研究主要集中在确定诸如学生成绩和留任率等机构成果上。但是，关于学习社区的体验如何影响与学生成功相关的动力，信念和看法，还需要进行更多的研究。这项研究调查了参与居住研究型学习社区对学生追求研究型职业的兴趣和动机，研究和数据自我效能感信念，与学习社区的归属感以及社会化程度和职业的心理社会影响在研究领域的意识。这项研究还调查了学生的初步研究自我效能感信念对职业意识，动机和兴趣的差异收益的中介作用，参加一个面向住宅研究型学习社区的一年后的归属感和社会化感。该研究的参与者由学习社区的五个队列组成，每个队列由二十名学生组成。每个队列的学生都参加了测试前-测试后设计调查研究。研究结果表明，学生兴趣与学习社区学科的契合是学生自我效能感信念，与学习社区的归属感和社会化程度以及所选领域的职业意识的关键中介。含义包括对学习社区进行周到设计的建议，这些学习社区可通过协调学习环境的内容，方法，顺序和社会学来促进认知学徒制。