Teaching Physical Education

Developing a search query can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help. For more information, see the Search Guide.

• Check out a database's Thesaurus to find appropriate keywords for the item for which you are looking. 

• A longer search query helps databases retrieve more specific resources

• Using "OR" between terms will retrieve more results

• Using "AND" between terms will retrieve less results
   
• Use a * (star) truncation symbol, which acts as a wildcard to broaden a search by finding variations of a word's ending, e.g. psych*
   
• Use " " (quotation marks) to tell the database to treat the enclosed words as an exact phrase, e.g. "educational psychology"
   
• Add FNMI keywords to your search strategy as a separate concept to narrow the search results. For example: "first nation*" OR metis OR inuit OR aboriginal OR indigenous OR cree OR blackfoot

Sample Database Search

"Physical education" OR "physical fitness" OR sports

AND

"study and teaching"

The following keywords can be used in a Library Catalogue math search strategy. Combining some of the concepts below with the keywords "Physical education" OR "physical fitness" OR sports will help filter out irrelevant results. Similarly, one can also combine the following concepts with the "health education."

• Other Physical Education Concepts:
  • movement education
  • physical education for children
  • physical fitness for youth
  • motor ability in children
  • intramural sports
  • Golf
  • Curling
• Student-Teacher Concept:

  • “Pre-service teachers” OR “student teachers” OR “trainee teachers”

• Curricular Concepts:

  • curricul*

  • school* OR didactic* OR pedagog*

• Population Concepts:

  • Youth OR adolescen* OR teen*

  • “Junior high” OR “middle school” OR “high school”

  • “Grade 7” OR “grade 8” OR “Grade 9” OR “grade 10” OR “grade 11” OR “grade 12”

• Geographic Concepts:

  • Canad*

  • Alberta OR Saskatchewan OR Manitoba etc.

Combine your subject keyword terms with JUVENILE to limit to resources appropriate for K-12 when you search the Library Catalogue.

• Juvenile Literature = non-fiction
• Juvenile Fiction = fiction
• Juvenile = fiction and non-fiction

For example, an Advanced Search of the Library Catalogue for non-fiction publications physical education children's literature could look like the following. 

• "Physical education" OR "physical fitness" OR "physical activity" OR sports OR golf OR hockey OR curling
  AND
  "juvenile literature"