The outcome over time is ownership of the work process. When teachers-learners are all assumed to have knowledge competencies that are nurtured as a part of the ongoing formal educational process, a subjective sense of cohesiveness is created, instilling in the team a sense of social purpose in their work. Taking on a sense of professionalism, and with it competence, is difficult for most undergraduate student. They incorporate the message that until they become credentialed, they are primarily learners and often passive learners. Experience as a CoRPS associate models active involvement of research associates in the creation and interpretation of knowledge.
Students discover that they have more knowledge is effective.
Research associates soon begin to see that they have both practical and conceptual kinds of knowledge to share and legitimates them intellectually, socially, and personally. Another discovery students make relates to the artificial categories in which knowledge is encapsulated. Most faculty members, they discover, are especially knowledgeable in some areas, quite unremarkable in others. Research associates also discover the incredible knowledge of the community people, and they gain confidence in their own knowledge of the issues. They discover that they are knowledge specialists in their own right, for they are in a position to teach people in the community, faculty members, and student peers about what they have learned.