A case study of four teachers' experiences while implementing the latest version of the Eureka Math curriculum in the state of Louisiana.

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) develops all mathematic standards and curricula in Louisiana. Once approved, these items become the officially mandated curricula that each school must teach. LDOE is also responsible for the flow down of the official curricula to each school system, plus providing the appropriate amount of training to the math teachers to effectively implement the new curricula. For example, in 2017, a statewide assessment provided information on student mathematical proficiency. Based on the poor results, and improved mandated set of standards and curricula, LDOE launched a rubric of approved research-based curricula required for low performing schools. One of the curriculum options was Eureka Math Curriculum. In response to the LDOE Curriculum mandates St. Tammany Parish Public Schools (STPPS) decided in 2020 to implement the same required LDOE curriculum to all schools in the district no matter their performance. This change in curriculum culminated in the third curriculum between 2017–2020 change for most math teachers in the district. This study focused on the experiences of selected math teachers charged with implementing the Eureka Math curriculum into the STPPS. The data collected consisted of structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with four fourth and fifth-grade teachers school system. Hargreaves (1998) Changing Teachers, Changing Times framed this study. Using Hargreaves’s (1998) framework for the study, the researcher identified four obstacles teachers faced implementing a mandated curriculum. Finally, the researcher concludes with recommendations for best practices when implementing any mandated math curriculum. The researcher identified Eureka Math as the teachers’ primary change element to implement curricula changes. Using Hargreaves’s (1998) outline, the researcher identified four obstacles to overcome and offered three solutions towards the successful implementation of Eureka Math. The obstacles included: pacing and planning, lack of resources, need for increased support, and teacher autonomy. This study identifies three best practices for successfully implementing the challenging Eureka Math: increased support, leniency on the scope and sequence of curricula implementation, and a new requirement for focused and tailored instruction sessions for each level of math teachers

The Temperate Marine Phage ΦHAP-1 of Halomonas aquamarina Possesses a Linear Plasmid-Like Prophage Genome ▿

A myovirus-like temperate phage, ΦHAP-1, was induced with mitomycin C from a Halomonas aquamarina strain isolated from surface waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The induced cultures produced significantly more virus-like particles (VLPs) (3.73 × 1010 VLP ml−1) than control cultures (3.83 × 107 VLP ml−1) when observed with epifluorescence microscopy. The induced phage was sequenced by using linker-amplified shotgun libraries and contained a genome 39,245 nucleotides in length with a G+C content of 59%. The ΦHAP-1 genome contained 46 putative open reading frames (ORFs), with 76% sharing significant similarity (E value of <10−3) at the protein level with other sequences in GenBank. Putative functional gene assignments included small and large terminase subunits, capsid and tail genes, an N6-DNA adenine methyltransferase, and lysogeny-related genes. Although no integrase was found, the ΦHAP-1 genome contained ORFs similar to protelomerase and parA genes found in linear plasmid-like phages with telomeric ends. Southern probing and PCR analysis of host genomic, plasmid, and ΦHAP-1 DNA indicated a lack of integration of the prophage with the host chromosome and a difference in genome arrangement between the prophage and virion forms. The linear plasmid prophage form of ΦHAP-1 begins with the protelomerase gene, presumably due to the activity of the protelomerase, while the induced phage particle has a circularly permuted genome that begins with the terminase genes. The ΦHAP-1 genome shares synteny and gene similarity with coliphage N15 and vibriophages VP882 and VHML, suggesting an evolutionary heritage from an N15-like linear plasmid prophage ancestor

From Rarity to Recognition: Infantile Botulism and the Broad Spectrum of Differential Diagnoses

This case illustrates a 5-week-old girl who presented with decreased activity, decreased feeds, poor suck, weak cry, lethargy, hypotonia, and areflexia. The child was found to have infant botulism. The case demonstrates the importance of a full history and broad differential in an ill-appearing infant. The differential for an ill-appearing infant should always include infectious etiologies and may include metabolic disorders, congenital anomalies, nonaccidental trauma, neurologic disorders, and endocrine disorders. The broad differential diagnosis may make rapid diagnosis and treatment for infantile botulism a challenge

Lysogeny and Sporulation in Bacillus Isolates from the Gulf of Mexico▿ †

Eleven Bacillus isolates from the surface and subsurface waters of the Gulf of Mexico were examined for their capacity to sporulate and harbor prophages. Occurrence of sporulation in each isolate was assessed through decoyinine induction, and putative lysogens were identified by prophage induction by mitomycin C treatment. No obvious correlation between ability to sporulate and prophage induction was found. Four strains that contained inducible virus-like particles (VLPs) were shown to sporulate. Four strains did not produce spores upon induction by decoyinine but contained inducible VLPs. Two of the strains did not produce virus-like particles or sporulate significantly upon induction. Isolate B14905 had a high level of virus-like particle production and a high occurrence of sporulation and was further examined by genomic sequencing in an attempt to shed light on the relationship between sporulation and lysogeny. In silico analysis of the B14905 genome revealed four prophage-like regions, one of which was independently sequenced from a mitomycin C-induced lysate. Based on PCR and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of an induced phage lysate, one is a noninducible phage remnant, one may be a defective phage-like bacteriocin, and two were inducible prophages. One of the inducible phages contained four putative transcriptional regulators, one of which was a SinR-like regulator that may be involved in the regulation of host sporulation. Isolates that both possess the capacity to sporulate and contain temperate phage may be well adapted for survival in the oligotrophic ocean