LibGuides: Elementary Education: Elementary Education

Finding statistics & evidence-based research

National Center for Education Statistics
Statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Education. Includes datasets, statistics, & reports related to all levels of education from early childhood through post-secondary. U.S.-focused but includes some international data.
School District of Philadelphia - Open Data Philly
Text as well as GIS formatted data for many of the data types commonly associated with public schools.
What Works Clearinghouse - US Dept Ed
The What Works Clearinghouse reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education with the goal to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions.

Finding research methods

SAGE Research Methods Online with Videos This link opens in a new window A comprehensive library of research methods library with books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos across the social sciences.
The Methods Map can help those less familiar with research methods to find the best technique to use in their research.
Keywords: research, methodology, quantitative, qualitative, social science

Little Green Books
Little Blue Books
Even videos!

Find it through the keyword search - or for important context browse using the "Methods Map."

Finding articles

For scholarly articles, see the following databases.

Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) via U.S. Department of Education This link opens in a new window
This is the publicly available version from the US Dept of Ed. It offers full-text of self-published reports and abstract-only of peer-reviewed articles.
SEARCH TIP: Use the thesaurus to clarify your search terms.
GETTING FULL TEXT TIP: For full-text of scholarly articles just copy/paste the article title into the big "Articles & More" search box on the Drexel Libraries home page. Drexel typically has full text. If none is found, request via Inter-Library-Loan.
Includes ability to limit search results by education level (such as early childhood education or a particular grade) and audience (such as counselors, parents, or teachers)
Education Source This link opens in a new window
This database on the EBSCO platform has excellent full text but a less useful search interface than the public ERIC.ED.GOV website which contains more self-published content. Try both to find which works best for you.

Finding definitions and background

Encyclopedia of Education -- includes articles that cover policy and curriculum issues; learning; assessment; standards; history and culture; legislation; and profiles of organizations, schools, and people.

Cambridge encyclopedia of child development -- an authoritative, accessible and up-to-date account of all aspects of child development. Written by an international team of leading experts, it adopts an interdisciplinary approach and covers everything from prenatal development to education, pediatrics, neuroscience, theories and research methods to physical development, social development, cognitive development, psychopathology and parenting.

Sample Assignment

"Find five articles, one for each of the following topics: physical education, cognitive education, language education, social emotional education, adaptive education"

1.) Look up each topic as a single concept in the ERIC Thesaurus - see how each relates to a "descriptor" or official tag or indexing term.

physical education: try "physical" which leads to "physical education" and then "Search collection using this descriptor"
cognitive education: try "cognitive" which leads to "cognitive development" ... is that what you really wanted?
language education: try "language" which leads to "language arts" ... ask yourself ... is that what you want? If so "search collection."
social emotional education: try "emotional" which leads to "emotional development" or "emotional intelligence" which one?
adaptive education: now you try it!

2.) Note the variations on the term, and related descriptors. Explore one or more, noticing how the "Scope Notes" or definitions can clarify your search.

3.) If you find a descriptor look for the link on the page to "Search collection using this descriptor"

4.) Once you have searched the collection using a descriptor, notice how many results you have gotten. To narrow results use the left-hand navigation panel to filter by clicking on additional relevant descriptors.

5.) Finally, narrow for your age or grade level using a filter further down on the left hand side menu
in the k-4 grade levels