Professional Learning Plan: A Tool to Facilitate Teacher Collaboration and Improve Instructional Practice

This case study is designed to support the preparation of school administrators and teacher leaders enrolled in courses pertaining to school improvement, instructional leadership, and educational change. The principal of an urban middle school has been charged by the district superintendent to study a downward trend in math state achievement test scores. The case involves a middle school principal and how he might choose to work with his faculty to analyze the issue and develop an appropriate professional learning plan to improve instructional practice. This case scaffolds leader preparation candidates in (a) collaboratively identifying a problem underlying declining state achievement test scores and (b) developing a professional learning plan to support school improvement efforts.

Improving students graphing skills and conceptual understanding using explicit Graphical Physics Instructions

The study presented investigates the effects of supportive graphical interventions on the graphing skills and conceptual understanding of students in physics. In this study, the first group of participants was presented with ready-made graphs during the instruction, the second group was instructed on the proper construction and extraction of graphs, while the third group was instructed to construct graphs independently. The groups were compared with respect to their scores in the graphing skills and achievement tests before and after the instructions. The group that received supportive intervention in construction and extraction of graphs attained the highest number of high-level graphs constructed and obtained the highest increase in the achievement test scores after the instruction. The results revealed that the use of the supportive graphical intervention in the construction and extraction of graphs improved the graphing skills and conceptual understanding of students, especially for those who experienced difficulties in dealing graphs. Keywords: Graphical interventions, construction of graph, interpretation of graph, graphing skills, conceptual understanding;