Middle Tennessee State University: Journals@MTSU
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Letter from the Editor in Chief
No full textMiddle Tennessee State University offers its student writers many avenues of publication, ranging from creative outlets such as Collage and Off Center to magazines like Areté and Shift. Among those publications, however, only one devotes itself exclusively to the promotion of student research: Scientia et Humanitas. In Scientia et Humanitas’s pages, students have the opportunity to experience their first taste of the peer review publishing process and, at the end of the process, the satisfaction of airing their research to an eagerreading community of peers, instructors, and alumni alike.
As its name indicates, Scientia et Humanitas resists strictly defined disciplinary divisions and instead seeks to intermingle the various arts and sciences, presenting research from across the disciplines in a single, engaging volume. Historically, we have publishedpapers from many fields, and this volume is no exception. Among the eight essays selected for publication, several arise from branches of philosophy while others spring from such realms as film studies, English studies, and the social sciences.
In the opening piece, “A Mind of One’s Own,” I marshal evidence from Virginia Woolf’s wider canon to argue that her portrayal of relationships in Mrs. Dalloway not only depicts but also defends the importance of the individual internality that is modallyreflected in her stream-of-consciousness narrative style. In the following essay, “Affection Deprivation and Weathering,” Alfred Holman, Jordyn Ewing-Roush, and Christal Goines report on their primary research study regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of the African American community. L. B. Jefferies’s look is placed under scrutiny in “Intellectual Virtues in Rear Window,” in which Patrick Gilchrist employs Aristotelian ethics and twenty-first-century responsibilist virtue epistemology to evaluate the moral blameworthiness and intellectual praiseworthiness of Jefferies’s voyeurism in Hitchcock’s masterpiece. In “The Call is Coming from Inside the House,” Sage Andrews probes published accounts by queer Christian individuals to demonstrate the transformative potential these individuals’ testimonies offer their faith communities.
In the second half of the volume, Nash Meade’s “The Creature from the British Isles” argues for the ongoing significance of Thomas Hobbes’s political philosophy by first establishing Hobbes’s historical importance and then utilizing Hobbes’s philosophy as a lens through which to interpret political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Mothers, Daughters, and Vampires” by Ashley M. Quinn conducts a close reading of eighteenthcentury vampiric poetry, connecting the liminal space of the vampire to convention-riddencodes surrounding female sexuality and ultimately underscoring the mother’s role in constructing her daughter’s sexuality in each poem. Nich Krause spans millennia to contrast the philosophies of eighth-century Buddhist monk Santideva and twentieth-century French existentialist Jean-Paul Satre, particularly teasing out similarities in their conceptions of personal freedom and moral responsibility in his essay “Being and Emptiness.” Finally, in “Do I Have a Choice?,” Aubrey Elaine Keller employs a folkloric lens to examine the influence that folk community members exercise over marriage and courting relationships to which they are external in works by Amy Tan and Lee Smith.
Clearly, a volume such as this owes its existence to the efforts of many individuals. The most obvious contributors are the student writers themselves. The peer review process can be an intimidating one, and we appreciate the motivation and commitmentto academic discourse each student displayed in submitting their work and persevering with us through each round of reviews and revisions. We hope each of you find the appearance of your finished work as rewarding as we do.
I wish to extend my deepest thanks to the committed team of associate editors and reviewers that make it possible for me to use the editorial “we”: Biven Alexander, Allison Haslett, Liam McBane, and Connor Methvin and Patrick Gilchrist, Sophia Maas, and Sophie Taylor. Your dedication has been immense, and I cannot thank you enough for the time you have carved out of your incredibly busy work, school, and life schedules to provide such thorough feedback on each essay and to work closely with authors to polish the articles to their current state. Both I and the authors you supported are grateful for your labor.
I must also extend thanks to the Honors College for supporting we students in our endeavors as both writers and editors, providing us with an excellent avenue through which to develop our linguistic skills. Special thanks goes to our faculty advisors, Dr. John Vile, Dr. Philip Phillips, and Ms. Marsha Powers, for their expert oversight. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Phillips for offering such insightful recommendations regarding the logistical aspects of managing all aspects of journal production when I first stepped into the role. I am likewise immensely grateful to Ms. Powers for the many hours she entertained me and other staff members in her office, providing us with advice and allowing us the pleasure of digging through her Scientia et Humanitas archives. I extend my further thanks to Susan Lyons and Rylee Campbell for their aid in designing the finished project; without you, all our work to edit and prepare the journal’s content would be futile.
Finally, we wish to thank you, our readers. It is your ongoing interest in and support of Scientia et Humanitas that makes its publication possible. We hope you enjoy the essays we have collected here and leave your reading of the journal with a sense of enrichment.
Percy VerretEditor in Chie
A Family Systems Approach to Addressing Depression in Children
Get PDFChildren of all ages and around the globe can experience depressive symptoms. However, certain symptoms of depression can be expressed in distinct ways from depression in adulthood. While many individualistic approaches are utilized to treat depression in childhood, family systems modalities can be utilized with effectiveness since family factors can contribute to depressive symptoms (Ghandour et al., 2019). Family systems theories often examine and address the interactions between family members and the context in which the interactions occur. Specifically, structural family therapy has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing childhood depression symptomology (Jiménez et al., 2019). Structural family therapy focuses on boundaries, hierarchies, and subsystems within a cultural context. The purpose of this literature review is to propose that structural family therapy is appropriate for addressing depression in childhood. Additional discussion includes structural family therapy being appropriate for various cultures around the globe. Major depressive disorder is a common mental disorder affecting children of all ages (James et al., 2018) and becomes higher in prevalence for children who have entered puberty (Costello et al., 2006). Mental health problems in childhood, such as depression, have been shown to have a more negative effect (e.g., a reduction in work resulting in a lower SES outcome) in the person’sadult life when compared to the effect of physical health issues (Delaney & Smith, 2012). Furthermore, depressive disorders were found to be one of the leading causes for disability in 2017 (James et al., 2018). Individuals who experienced depressive symptoms at an early onset typically had poorer quality of life, more depressive episodes, greater medical psychiatric comorbidity, more suicide attempts, and more significant symptoms severity than those with later ages of onset of major depressive disorder (Zisook et al., 2007). Given the research demonstrating the negative effect that early onset of depression has on an individual, it is imperative to consider interventions.
Family systems therapy has been demonstrated to be an effective approach for addressing depression in childhood (Jiménez et al., 2019; Tompson et al., 2017; Trowell et al., 2007). Due to the reliance of children on their caregivers, it is prudent to involve the family in addressing mental health concerns (Steinberg, 2001). While many approaches operate from an individualist approach (see Bernaras et al., 2019), consideration of the family is significant since children with a primary caregiver who rated their own mental health as fair or poor in mental or emotional health had an increased rate of depression at 13% (Ghandour et al., 2019). The purpose of thisliterature review is to propose structural family therapy as an effective modality for treating children with depressive symptoms
Education by the Numbers
Get PDFSeveral factors contribute to student success and achievement. Students’ attendance has been shown to affect students’ success in school (Hanson, 2020). However, it appears that less attention is given to how teacher absentees affect student success (Hanson, 2020)
Introduction
Get PDFThis Fall issue provides readers with diverse perspectives on a variety of topics including the impact Covid-19 had on pre-service teachers, Korean mothers, and children’s social skills. Moreover, this issue discusses how music can be utilized to increase literacy in the classroom, the benefits of structured and unstructured play, and recommended toys for play. The IJWC continues to be committed to promoting holistic learning and the development of the whole child
Music and Middle School Literacy
Get PDFThis article provides beneficial strategies for using music in the middle school English classroom. Despite research describing the positive effects of using music to enhance learning, there is minimal discussion on specific ways of incorporating music into lessons. Music is a meaningful alternative allowing middle school students to connect with their world and, in doing so, create their own unique identities. This discussion identifies strategies whereby English teachers build upon students’ interest in music to frame engagement in critical thinking about a text including the events and characters, themes, and motifs. Students learn complex literacy skills within an environment of personal motivation and multimodal approaches
Pre-Kindergarten Teachers’ Perceptions of Social and Emotional Learning
Get PDFRecognition of social and emotional learning (SEL), as an essential educational component, has increased in recent years, and early childhood educators’ perceptions of SEL are likely to impact the delivery, evaluation, and outcomes of SEL opportunities for young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate SEL perceptions of prekindergarten teachers in an American urban, public preschool serving predominantly Black students. Participant (n=22) responses to the Teacher Social and Emotional Learning Beliefs Scale (Brackett et al., 2012) were used to calculate mean scores for the domains of comfort, commitment, and culture, which wereanalyzed in relationship to the independent variables of teacher position (lead or auxiliary), level of education (associate degree, bachelor’s degree, or graduate degree), and years of prekindergarten teaching experience (0-20 years and more than 20 years). While results were statistically non-significant, findings of the current pilot study have important and practical implications for implementing SEL in prekindergarten. Auxiliary teachers scored slightly lower in commitment and comfort domain than lead teachers, and teachers with a bachelor’s degree scored highest on the comfort domain. Interestingly, experienced teachers (more than 20 years) did not show a notable difference from those who have been teaching prekindergarten for much less time. Findings suggest that regardless of position and educational level, both veteran and novice early childhood teachers could benefit from explicit SEL training and adequate time and opportunity to become confident in providing effective social and emotional learning in their early childhood classrooms. Further research is needed to examine the effects of SEL training and coaching for prekindergarten teachers on the SEL of young children
Parent Reports of Executive Functions in Students with Learning Disability
Get PDFThis study examines the results of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2) (Gioia et al., 2015) reported by parents of children with Specific Learning Disability (LD) and/or other comorbid disabilities. LD is most notably associated with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Alloway & Stein, 2014; Westby &Watson, 2004; Willcutt et al., 2013). A total of 43 parents completed the BRIEF-2 rating scale. Findings suggest children with LD and ADHD display greater challenges with inhibition, working memory, planning, along with greater challenges in organization and metacognition. Parents of children with LD reportedtheir children have greater levels of executive function difficulties in comparison to children with LD who do not have a secondary diagnosis of ADHD
Make it Visible: Video Record Teaching and Learning
Get PDFLife for students and teachers has proven to be quite unpredictable, whether an unexpected absence, extended illness, outbreaks of communicable diseases, or even inclement weather (Johnson, 2021). Continuing instruction despite these issues is consequential for student learning. Even with planned absences (students or teachers), intentional continuation of the learning trajectory can help students from falling behind. Additionally, teachers need tools to help them reflect and grow in their instructional practices. Video recording offers realistic views of teacher practices because it captures the truth of classroom instruction. While teachers may find video instruction daunting at the onset, it offers them a way to look at what is actually happening in the classroom and then make adjustments. For this reason, the use of video recording has a myriad of benefits to both the student and the teacher
Updates
Get PDFThank you for your continued support of the International Journal of the Whole Child and our commitment to holistic learning and to the development of the whole child. To improve the efficiency of the journal, we have updated our submission and publication dates. The submission deadline for Fall 2022 is September 30th. The submission deadline for the Spring 2023 will be February 28th. The Fall issues will be published in December and the Spring issue will be published in May. Lastly, our journal has officially moved to the APA 7th edition. We ask that all authors adhere to this edition when submitting your manuscript for review. Thank you again for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you in Fall 2022
Intellectual Virtues in Rear Window: A New Look at L.B. Jefferies’s Look
Get PDFAlfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is a pillar of American cinematic history. Few would doubt that much. More questionable, though, is the moral character of the film’s famed protagonist, L.B. Jefferies, who draws sincere pleasure from peeking into the private lives of his neighbors. The moral blameworthiness of Jefferies’s objectifying voyeurism has long been intimated by many scholars who have written about the film. I take these intimations as a starting point, translating and explaining the morally blameworthy dimensions of Jefferies’s intrusive looks in terms of Aristotelian philosophy. Following this, however, I appeal to the work of twenty-first-century responsibilist virtue epistemology to draw out the intellectual praiseworthiness of Jefferies’s obsessive gaze (a conclusion respective of but unconcerned with these actions’ immorality). Because shots from the protagonist’s point-of-view comprise so much of the film’s visual storytelling, I argue that the film’s primary narrative opposition is not between good and evil or secrets and discovery as one might assume; instead, the narrative opposition, I argue, is present in spectatorial judgement—the concurrent sense of moral blameworthiness and intellectual praiseworthiness that one is prone to feel when seeing through the eyes of L.B. Jefferies