CART psychology students are researching and analyzing real-world problems, finding solutions

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- In a classroom at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART) groups of students are gathered around their laptops finalizing their posters and projects for an upcoming symposium.

They're all part of the Psychology and Human Behavior lab at the school.

Each of the three groups we met with sent out surveys to students to collect data - and are now analyzing it based on the responses.

"This is not a project you can really slack on." Senior Estrella Aguilar said.

Estrella Aguilar and her partners are looking at the link between teenage stress and sleep to see if their hypothesis is backed up by data.

"Someone who is more stressed out would likely have more distress in their nightmares and, conversely, someone who has less stress has less distress in their nightmares," Aguilar said.

Miranda Caballero and her group are looking into the amount of time high school students spend on Instagram, whether their parents are utilizing parental controls on their phones and how it impacts their self-esteem.

"They're negatively comparing themselves to people they see on Instagram," Caballero said.

And Jackson McGehee-Adams and her group are looking into the stigma of mental health and mental health literacy.

"Having a space where students are able to comfortably talk about mental health is really important for them to be able to access the services that are available to them," McGehee-Adams said.

The students learn how to use correlation calculators and Google Sheets to dissect what their data shows.

They lean on their teachers and experts in the field, or mentors, to build their skills and guide their research and analysis.

"They have that experience and exposure to help them in their tool belt when they go to college." Psychology instructor Alex Wlaschin said.

Teachers like Wlaschin say it's incredible to watch the students' confidence grow from the beginning of the year to now.

"In the end, it's something that they're so proud of and it's a product that they can take with them rather beyond high school," Wlaschin said.

The students are preparing to present their findings and their projects at CART on Thursday in front of educators, friends and family and mentors who helped along the way.

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