Episode 6: Using Digital Storytelling in Literacy Education with Dr. Kathryn Caprino

Digital storytelling can be a powerful teaching tool for children. In this episode of The JayPod, Etown Education professor Dr. Kathryn Caprino talks about what digital storytelling is and what some of the potential benefits are for using it in the classroom. In 2021, she published a series of blog posts on this topic in collaboration with former Early Childhood Education students, Samantha Weigle and Alyssa Marzili. You can check out those blog posts at the links below: Digital Storytelling: An Exciting Teaching Tool! href= https://www.middleweb.com/46096/assessing-digital-stories-in-the-middle-grades/\u3eAssessing Digital Stories in the Middle Grades Dr. Caprino has taught middle and high school English. She teaches classes on adolescent and children’s literature and literacy methods and has a special interest in integrating technology as part of literacy education. You can follow her on Twitter at @Kcapliteracy and she also reviews children\u27s books at https://katiereviewsbooks.wordpress.com/

Episode 8: Philip Roth\u27s The Plot Against America and Its Relevance to American Politics Today with Dr. Fletcher McClellan

In his 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, the late author Philip Roth explores an alternate version of American history from 1940-1942 in which FDR loses the 1940 presidential election against the isolationist, celebrity aviator Charles Lindbergh, leading to serious consequences for the country, particularly for the Jewish population. Etown College Professor of Political Science, Dr. Fletcher McClellan has used the novel in his senior seminar in recent years as a way to explore parallels between the fictional Lindbergh presidency of Roth\u27s novel and the Trump presidency, focusing on the similarities between the isolationist, nativist ideology behind the America First movement of the early 40s and the MAGA movement. In this month\u27s JayPod episode, we discuss these and other parallels and how the novel might inform discussions of current American politics and the state of our democracy. In November 2022, Dr. McClellan published an article, href= https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15512169.2022.2148533\u3e It Almost Happened (And Might Still Happen) Here: Philip Roth\u27s The Plot Against America in the Journal of Political Science Education on how he has used the novel in his senior seminars

Episode 9: Using Archival Materials in Pre-service Teacher Education: A Conversation with Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh and Brian Booker

In this archives-focused episode, host Josh Cohen got the opportunity to talk with High Library archivist, Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh, and Education faculty member, Brian Booker, about their collaboration for Education students in Brian\u27s Social Studies Methods course. Rachel and Brian worked together to create an assignment requiring the students to use archival resources to create a short K-12 social studies lesson. In the January/February issue of the publication Archival Outlook, Rachel published an article about this project, titled, “Make an Impact with Archival Outreach to Preservice Teachers: Instructing Students to Teach with Primary Sources.” We discuss that collaboration and its goals and how K-12 social studies teachers can benefit from incorporating primary source materials into their instruction. Plus, we highlight the High Library\u27s Hess Archives collections which feature materials related to the Church of the Brethren, the Elizabethtown College archives, and collections related to Anabaptist and Pietist groups. For archivists and others interested in Rachel\u27s work with Brian\u27s class, here is a link to the href= https://libraryguides.etown.edu/socialstudies\u3elibrary guide that Rachel created and which we reference in the episode

Episode 10: Studying the Health Benefits of Mindfulness Training for Undergraduate Students with Drs. Elizabeth Dalton and Tomás Estrada

How can mindfulness training and meditation practice benefit our mental health and well-being? In today\u27s world of constant distractions, it seems harder than ever to live in the present moment with sustained focus while managing the stress of daily life. In a recent study, Etown College\u27s Assistant Professor of Psychology, Dr. Elizabeth Dalton and Associate Professor of Engineering and Physics, Dr. Tomás Estrada collaborated to explore the impact of formal mindfulness training on the well-being of 48 undergraduate engineering students. In this episode, we discuss the concept of mindfulness and its usefulness both in the classroom as well as in one\u27s personal life to manage stress and improve one\u27s overall quality of life. Estrada and Dalton also provide some background information on how they developed an interest in this area of research and what conclusions they reached through their study, Implementation and Feasibility of a Group Mindfulness Intervention for Undergraduate Engineering Students which they published in a recent issue of Advances in Engineering Education. Some books on mindfulness training that we discuss in this episode and which might be of interest to listeners include Jon Kabat-Zinn\u27s Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness and Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein\u27s A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

Episode 7: The Amish Response to COVID Vaccines with Alexander Waskiewicz and Dr. Steven Nolt

Are you interested in how the Amish population in the U. S. responded to the COVID vaccine in 2021? In this JayPod episode, host Josh Cohen spoke with Etown College student Alexander Waskiewicz, who recently completed a research project to try to understand how Old Order Amish populations reacted to news of the vaccine and how public health outreach efforts might be improved to better communicate with these populations. He completed his research in consultation with Etown College Professor of History and Anabaptist Studies, Dr. Steven Nolt. We discuss what Alex discovered as well as how some Old Order Amish communities tend to approach health care decisions and illness more broadly. It was a fascinating conversation on a topic that host Josh Cohen was eager to learn more about. Alex is a junior at Etown, majoring in political science and public health. Dr. Nolt is a nationally recognized scholar on Anabaptist and Pietist Groups and has published many books on the Amish, Mennonites, and on Pennsylvania German history and culture. Some of his books include The Amish: A Concise Introduction and A History of the Amish

Design and Synthesis of Hoogsteen-Binding Peptide Nucleic Acid Monomers with Extended Linkers for Triple Helical U-A Recognition in RNA

RNA provides many functions within biological systems. For example, noncoding RNA (ncRNA), a form of RNA that is not part of transcription or translation, serves a variety of unique roles, such as catalysis or gene regulation. ncRNA generally forms double helical motifs that are ripe for molecular recognition. Sequence selective recognition of double helical RNA (dhRNA) can be achieved using Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA) through triple helical formation by Hoogsteen hydrogen bonding of PNA nucleobases in the major groove of dhRNA. However, strong, and selective recognition is typically limited to polypurine strands and pyrimidine recognition remains an unsolved problem. A promising solution uses extended nucleobases to reach across the Hoogsteen face of the RNA base pair, bypassing the pyrimidine, and binding with the distal purine. Using this strategy, we designed and synthesized new extended nucleobases to help uncover the ideal linker length and heterocyclic substitution for optimal molecular recognition

Episode 2: Technology

It may sound audacious, to say that a horse-and-buggy driving group, can teach us anything about living in a hyper-tech, hyper-everything world. Yet for Professor Kraybill, the Amish demonstrate how some old-fashion things, suddenly turn relevant, once again! In nine episodes Kraybill explores what he learned from the Amish about (1) Community, (2) Technology, (3) Apprenticeship, (4) Forgiveness, (5) Hacking (6) Smallness (7) Choices (8) Humility, and (9) Death. Episode Two: Technology Sound silly to say we can learn something about technology from the Amish? It’s not. They don’t reject technology. They accept, reject or modify technology depending if it will help or harm their community. Lots of lessons for the rest of us in a hyper-tech world. An Amish man shares his views of tech

Positive Effects of Dance on the Older Adult Population: A Scoping Review

Background: Dancing is an activity that can be performed at any stage throughout a person’s lifespan. As a person grows older, physical activity and exercise become more important as muscle mass decreases and bones become more brittle. These bodily changes may impact an older individual’s ability to participate in physical activities and exercises they once were able to do. Dance is an occupation that offers a fun opportunity to increase a person’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional health. Methods: A scoping review examined the current research on the benefits of dance programs and classes for older adults and compared the benefits for adults ages 55-84 years versus adults ages 85 years and older. Methods included an extensive literature review resulting in the inclusion of 21 articles utilizing the following search terms: “Dance” AND “Geriatrics” OR “Older adults” OR “elderly.” Results: Adults 55 and older may utilize dance to improve overall quality of life as it provides social interaction, an increase in cognitive effects of the brain, and overall improved balance and motor coordination. However, there was little research about the positive effects of dance that includes the older geriatric population (85 years and older). There were many similarities in the positive effects of dance between healthy individuals over 55 years old and older adults with pre-existing conditions. Conclusions: Dance offers positive physical, cognitive, and social and emotional effects on healthy aging populations, as well as older adults and elderly living with health conditions, that help improve overall quality of life. Further research is necessary to determine if these positive effects may also be generalized to the older geriatric population

Episode 5: Hacking

It may sound audacious, to say that a horse-and-buggy driving group, can teach us anything about living in a hyper-tech, hyper-everything world. Yet for Professor Kraybill, the Amish demonstrate how some old-fashion things, suddenly turn relevant, once again! In nine episodes Kraybill explores what he learned from the Amish about (1) Community, (2) Technology, (3) Apprenticeship, (4) Forgiveness, (5) Hacking (6) Smallness (7) Choices (8) Humility, and (9) Death. Episode Five: Hacking Professor Kraybill explores the fascinating ways that Amish “hackers” adapt technology to fit Amish values and practices. He shows how hacking is a way to control technology while at the same time permitting some progress