Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Volcanic Deposits On Human Preservation, Charles M. Nuncio

Culture, Society, and Praxis

No abstract provided.

Freedom, Vulnerability, And Capitalism, Jeremy M. Johnson

Culture, Society, and Praxis

This project will explore how economic vulnerability plays a role in the functioning and maintenance of today’s economic and political systems while investigating how substantive freedom is threatened by economic precarity, why widespread vulnerability is minimally addressed by the state, and potential reforms to the current economic and political arrangement that could be made to ameliorate material harm. Much focus has been dedicated to the study of the coercive power of capitalism, but by analyzing how vulnerability is caused, perpetuated, and taken advantage of, a comprehensive understanding of the lived experiences of the working class, as well as their ability …

Teaching And Teachings Of Black Mixed Girls As Unveiling Femme-Centered Anti-Blackness In Us Education, Miranda Mosley

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Through a lack of Black-centered, Black-empowering policies and strategies (Dumas, 2016), Black people are overlooked in the US public education system. Though this general disregard (and disdain) for Blackness in the education system is found to keep communities segregated and result in higher rates of expulsion and punishment for Black students (Dumas, 2014; Wun, 2016), we know relatively little about how experiences shape identities for Black girls in their schools. For Black girls, and specifically Black mixed race girls, we do know that physical attributes like hair texture and skin color shift the girls’ sense of racial identity (Hunter, 2016) …

Benefits Of Creating An Inclusive Collections Of Literature Books For K-8 Students At The School Libraries, Mikaela Ruiz-Dasilva

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Reading is an essential skill for students of all ages. The ability to read and comprehend what the text is saying helps with the ability to learn topics at a deeper level. This senior capstone project examines the benefits of having diverse and inclusive literature available in K-8 school libraries. Through the use of a literature review, interviews with 2 librarians, 1 teacher and 1 principal, the findings revealed that all the subject participants gave similar answers in that diverse and inclusive literature are extremely beneficial to students. It instills empathy and understanding in students, which brings a sense of …

Increasing Social And Emotional Development In Preschoolers, Alondra Susana Cardenas Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My project focuses on ways that Hispanic immigrant parents can stimulate their preschool children’s social and emotional development. Many children in the U.S. today are entering kindergarten not being emotionally and socially ready to spend time away from their caregivers and to have interactions with peers. When entering the school system for the first time children need to develop independence and social awareness. Communication and interactions between parent and child as well as the child with other children at a young age will both stimulate them and prepare them for interactions with others and set them a foundation for success. …

How Swim Lessons Improve Overall Health In Children Ages 7 To 13, Fiona Sonni

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project focuses on increasing school-aged children’s awareness about the need for physical activity to improve overall health. There are reports that children’s physical activity has decreased in recent years. Because they spend so much time behind a screen, they do not get adequate exercise and experience feelings of depression and lack of motivation to change their habits. Potential reasons for this could include the COVID-19 pandemic forcing children inside, increased popularity in video games, and an increase in social anxiety due to the pandemic. By focusing my project on swimming-related skills, I hope to increase children’s physical activity …

Parent Workshop On Young Children's Emotional Development, Margarita Camacho

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project focuses on parents with preschool-aged children. At this age, children feel their emotions before they can recognize what they mean, and it is difficult for them to self-regulate their emotions. Executive function abilities, as well as language abilities, are some of the potential reasons for the difficulties. Research has demonstrated that the first five years of life are crucial for children's emotional development. According to Chronis-Tuscano et al. (2016), to be able to regulate emotions and respond to them effectively, the use of executive functioning skills as well as several cognitive processors are required. Also, as Chronis-Tuscano …

Emotional Regulation Strategies For 3 Year Olds, Gloria Aguirre

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project focuses on teaching three year olds how to regulate their emotions. According to Parsafar and Davis, “emotional regulation refers to the set of processes involved in the way emotions are experienced and responded to” (2019, p 1935). There is a need for emotion regulation instruction for 3-year-olds because many 3-year-olds are having a difficult time regulating their emotions during a conflict with their peers. I have developed a set of lessons that will address this need by teaching 3 year olds different emotional faces, calming techniques, and ways to redirect their attention. The 3 year olds executive …

Supporting Social Development In Students With Disabilities, Elyzabeth Andersen

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focused on the social development of kindergarten students receiving special education services who spend a portion of their day in inclusive placements. The number of students receiving special education services in inclusive classroom environments has increased over time. However, special education students often experience social isolation, lack reciprocal friendships, and have limited interactions with peers without disabilities, even in inclusive settings (Avramidis et al., 2018; Koster et al., 2010). Therefore, there is a need to encourage positive interactions between peers with and without disabilities. To address this need, I developed a set of three lessons for special …

The Importance Of Teaching Social-Emotional Skills To Young Children, Stephanie Valdez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project enhances the social-emotional skills of preschool children, which are fundamental for relationships, emotional management, and empathy. Children lacking these skills may struggle in learning, behavior, and socializing when they progress to elementary school. Studies have shown that social-emotional competence and cognitive competence are critical predictors of academic accomplishment (Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Student Benefits: Implications for the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Core Elements, n.d.). Children in preschool who lack these skills may experience difficulties in learning, behavior, and socializing as they progress to elementary school (Amy Morin, 2019). A significant issue arises when children encounter obstacles …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Elementary School Students' Academic Achievement, Kourtney Ashlee Baze

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

COVID-19 is a virus that has caused a nationwide lockdown due to the rapid spread. Due to this, non-essential businesses and schools were closed. Many households were not getting enough food, behind on rent, unable to pay household bills. With schools closed, education was forced into online learning. This had negative effects on students’ academic achievement, their mental, emotional, and social health, and caused more behavioral issues than before the pandemic. Through literature review, interviewing two fifth grade teachers and anonymous surveys of forty-eight students, the findings revealed that online learning had a negative impact on students’ academic achievement and …

Awareness Of Mental Health Among Adolescents, Gloria Ortiz-Wilson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focal point of this capstone project is to bring mental health awareness to the adolescent community in Soledad, California. With the numbers rising in the likelihood of adolescents developing a mental health disorder, it is extremely important for adolescents to know the different types of mental health disorders and the signs of these disorders (Abrams, 2023). Between 20-30% of adolescents have a form of depression, 37% have anxiety disorders, and there has been a 16% increase of suicide in youth 12 and older (Valdez et al., 2022).

Because of adolescents’ increasing risk for mental health issues, there is a …

Improving The Social Emotional Recognition And Regulation For Special Education Adolescents, Isabella Lopez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focal topic for this project is emotional learning in high school students in special education programs. Social emotional learning is focused on emotions, recognizing emotions, and expression of emotions in connection to interacting with others. This is important in any stage of development because it creates the foundation of children’s future social interactions and how they deal with emotions in adulthood. Students with special needs sometimes lack the ability to recognize their own intense emotions and enact appropriate ways to express them. For these students, it can be difficult to process and express emotions in a social setting, like …

Filming A Hidden Resource: The Soil In The Seventh Art Narrative, Antonio Ganga, Ludmila Ribeiro Roder, Enzo Antônio Paganini, Arun Dilipkumar Jani, Cassio Hamilton Abreu-Junior, Thiago Assis Rodrigues Nogueira, Gian Franco Capra

Biology and Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The general public often perceives soil as a hidden resource. In recent years, the film industry has shown an increasing awareness about the soil environment. Indeed, as public opinion about environmental problems has increased, soil as a natural resource has become more popular in public discourse, and, consequently, the film industry, partly because of its ability to showcase public concerns and mainstream opinion. This review aims to identify depictions of soil in films and the following consequences regarding their impact on society. We investigated movies containing different perspectives and aimed to understand: i) the role of the soil environment in …

Benefits Of Existing Educational Programs For Migrant Elementary School Students, Jasmin Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Due to the constant mobility of migrant families, migrant students face disadvantages in their academic performance. This senior capstone research project is to examine the benefits of existing education programs for immigrant elementary school students on migrant students available for a largely Hispanic community on the Central Coast of California. Through the use of literature review, interviews with migrant teachers, migrant coordinators, and migrant directors, the results show that even though migrant students obtain physical and emotional support for the Migrant Education Program, their academic achievement and personal identity are constantly being challenged. In order to help mitigate these effects, …

Umbrella Of Mental Health Resources In Schools, Jennifer Ortiz- Jarquin

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Mental Health is a worldwide crisis that students face every day, especially in school environments. Having resources available to students in schools could potentially help students to deal and manage mental health. Seaside High School is a public school in Monterey County that provides services for students in grades 9-12. The counseling department is the center in the school that facilitates the educational support that students need in regards to career exploration and further academic concerns. At Seaside High School there is a high rate of students that deal with low mental health. Incorporating support groups can provide assistance and …

Developing Healthy Relationships, Ellie Quintana

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The youth population in the public school system in San Benito County are involved in an increasing number of unhealthy relationships. The Youth Alliance is a non-profit organization located in Hollister, CA. Their mission is to provide innovative and culturally relevant services that strengthen and enrich youth, families and the community. This agency is working together with the elementary, middle and high schools within San Benito County to help support young men and women to create and maintain healthy relationships. The Healthy Relationships Workshop is a workshop-based group held for youth 12 and older at Rancho San Justo Middle School …

Pathways To Success: A Career Insights Event For Youth And Parents, Kendall Perez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Partners for Peace (P4P) is a nonprofit organization in Monterey County focused on enhancing parent-child relationships by offering parent education classes and a youth mentorship program. They serve over 432,000 Monterey County residents, composed of a diverse demographic with a predominantly Hispanic population. The young adults in Monterey County face challenges in transitioning to independent adulthood and achieving self-sufficiency. The contributing factors include underfunded educational systems, low educational attainment, and low financial literacy among youth, undoubtedly resulting in ungainful employment, mental illness, and dependence. P4P's "Pathways to Success" career exploration fair endeavors to boost career awareness and confidence among youth …

Improving Family Resource Collective Programs: A Comparative Analysis Project, Kimberly Smith

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Community Bridges Nonprofit serves thousands of Santa Cruz County residents through its ten programs across the life course. One of these is the Family Resource Collective (FRC), in which four centers deliver a variety of services aimed at meeting the basic needs of local families. The rising national cost of living and barriers to public benefit support are causing families across the United States to struggle to meet their families’ basic needs. Locally, many families are facing threats of displacement and need greater access to social support services. This project involved a comparative analysis of the four FRC programs between …

Improving Mental Health In Hispanic Communities, Paola Vargas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

AIM Youth Mental Health is advocating for children who are suffering from lack of resources, guidance, and clinical research. The division implementing this project is the outreach program. The intern and team will passionately work together to make this event successful by creating bilingual fliers that share information about the agency's programs and training. Depression and suicide are the most common issues occurring in Monterey county as of today and has been affecting many families. Providing these resources will unite and educate professionals, parents, and students about school programs available for youths and measures for adults as well. The most …

Chinatown Outreach - Targeted Resources For The Unhoused Population, Jesus Herrera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Addressing housing insecurities is one of The Epicenter’s pillars while utilizing a new federal grant. The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program is the division implementing the project that will consist of outreach through a mobilization team. Housing insecurities are not only a city issue but a statewide one and YHDP is designed to help reduce those insecurities and improve a client’s quality of life while providing food, clothing, hygiene packs, and resource information to improve their livelihood. To assess the effectiveness of our deliverables it consisted of tallying, informal dialogues, and data analysis. The most important measure is that we were …

Basic Needs Housing Advocate Program, Loyce Jewell Bryant

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) students are severely impacted by high priced housing costs. This paper will demonstrate how imperative it is that Basic Needs implements a separate housing infrastructure to help support students with their housing needs during and upon graduation. CSUMB currently houses over 55% of their students and still many students have housing insecurities. To assess the micro-level housing insecurity problem; CSUMB students work with case managers to evaluate their needs. To assess the macro-level housing insecurity problem, a survey was distributed to random students throughout the campus. Of the 6,577 currently enrolled students; 60 students …

Teaching Strategies In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Education For Kinesthetic Learners, Analilia Robles

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this capstone project is to examine effective teaching strategies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for kinesthetic learners and how taking a hands-on approach to teaching STEM can facilitate learning for our students. The research provides an overview of the history and evolution of STEM and highlights how students benefit from learning through experience and hands-on activities by integrating the STEM disciplines. This research gathers insight from both public and private school teachers in Monterey County based on their experience and observations teaching STEM education. Through the use of literature reviews, teacher interviews, classroom observations, …

Preschool Children Learn About Regulating Emotions, Elisa Camacho

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This project was done to teach preschool children how to self-regulate, as well as see what they know about self-regulation.

Self-Regulation In A Preschool Classroom, Karen Ruby Vasquez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on preschool aged children’s development of self regulation. Self-regulation involves children's developing ability to regulate their emotions, thoughts and behavior to enable them to act in positive ways toward a goal. Young children have a harder time with self regulation than older children. Working in a preschool made me learn that some children have a harder time controlling their emotions and behaviors than others. It is important to address this because good early self-regulation is associated with later positive developmental outcomes. “Supporting self regulation development in early childhood is an investment in later success, because stronger …

Healthy Use Of Technology & The Internet Among University Students, Stefano Cueto

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focused on technology and internet use among university students. The focal issue is unhealthy use of technology and the internet, as in overuse on a daily basis. What is constituted as overuse of technology and internet use are reduction of physical activity and poor posture, eye strain, poor sleep habits, and anxiety. Given this issue, there is a need for a service that detoxes from overuse of technology, gauges relationships with technology, and informs alternative, mindful means of technology/internet use in everyday lives. This service was a one-time workshop service conducted in fall, 2023, intended to detox …

Language Influences Younger Generations: Social Media Affects Students In More Ways Than One, Charlie Torrecillas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Social Media has many positive effects but can also have many negative effects. Social Media is targeted more towards a younger audience. With social media being targeted to a younger audience, this can also affect their language and communication skills as well as their mental health. The purpose of this paper is to look at the effects social media can have with regards to language and communication. The paper also highlight mental health and how language, communication and mental health are connected. This paper is more focused on looking at the effects it has on students within the United States, …

Enhancing Recovery With The Use Of Animals, Christina Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Avenues is a program designed to help adults lead happier and more productive lives by overcoming mental health and chemical dependency challenges. The problem is, participants are not fully prepared for independent living following these programs. The plan was to provide participants a therapeutic approach to gaining hands-on experience while combating symptoms of mental illness with the use of animals, with hopes that participants would be better prepared for life after leaving the program. If the project met the expected outcome, the agency would see a lower rate of participants returning to the program and a higher success rate of …

Improving Stress Management For Elementary School Students, Ashley Man

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on stress management for elementary school students. As there has been a rise in elementary school students' reports of stress, a longitudinal study examined daily school stress and coping strategies of elementary school children in the United States. The students were ages 7 to 11 years old and results highlight critical relations between students’ exposure to daily stress at school, their stress appraisals and future expectations, and usage of coping strategies (Sotardi, 2016). The students' ability to manage daily stress in productive, socially acceptable ways was reported to be restricted. This shows that students may not …

Impact Of Technology On K-8 Students' Learning Post-Covid-19, Vincent Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research project aims to examine the impact of technology on K-8 students' learning post-COVID-19 and how technology in the classroom helps students achieve academic success. With the difficulties that the COVID-19 pandemic had on students, this study will dive deep into the depths of technology's use in today's education system. Through the use of a literature review, interviews with teachers, and surveys from 7th & 8th-grade students, the findings indicated that technology plays a crucial role in students learning and teaching. We are moving away from the traditional classroom of books and paper and into a new era of …