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Ethnic Identity Development, Maria Gutierrez Chavez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Ethnic identity, or the set of self-ideas one has about one’s own ethnic group membership, is not seen as an area of development in K-12 classrooms, therefore, the researcher set to uncover benefits of aiding this development. Participants for the Capstone Project included 25 fifth-grade students in a public elementary classroom located on California’s Central Coast. The researcher found evidence suggesting students’ self-esteem is related to one’s ethnic backgrounds, as well as finding that students really enjoy learning about their own cultures and identities. The researcher believes this research is imperative in relation to her own personal career goals as …