Ready! Set! Search!

Image from Kara Allyson

Today's the day to get serious and start searching. I feel well supported in this because of the modelling provided in tutorials and online. The fact that the demonstrations are recorded means that I can keep referring to them as needed. They have provided me with the support and intervention that I needed to move forward from the first two phases (Initiation and Selection) of the Kuhlthau ISP mentioned in the previous post.

Google Scholar

Given all that information, I thought that I would start with familiar territory - Google! Although I used Google Scholar and not the regular Google open web page search.
Firstly I needed to identify the various synonyms that could be used for the various keywords in my topic.
So for Year 3 I identified: Year 3 - Grade 3-  Year Three - Grade Three
For Inquiry I identified: Inquiry-based learning - Inquiry learning - Inquiry
For History I identified: History - SOSE - Social Studies
I knew that I didn't need to use the Boolean operator AND in Google Scholar because it automatically added the next term with the previous one. I did use OR as a Boolean operator to try and ensure that I included the various terms that I had identified above. So my first search  was:
("Year 3" OR "Grade 3" OR "Year Three" OR "Grade Three") ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "SOSE" OR "Social Studies")
A grand total of 16 300 hits! To commemorate the occasion I took a screenshot. (Clicking on the screenshot will enlarge it for viewing)

Obviously too broad and there are a lot of science related results. I know that the Boolean operator Not doesn't work in Google so I need to use -science instead. However I'm not sure of the bracket placement with the minus sign so I experiment with it. 
The first time I do it like this:
("Year 3" OR "Grade 3" OR "Year Three" OR "Grade Three") ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "SOSE" OR "Social Studies") (- science)
But this still yields 15 900 results and science is still appearing.
So I try:
("Year 3" OR "Grade 3" OR "Year Three" OR "Grade Three") ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "SOSE" OR "Social Studies" -science)
I'm encouraged with 7060 results. Still too many but halved from the initial attempt. Some useful looking articles but some dating from the 1980's. My next step is to place some limits on the age of the data. So I narrow it down by limiting the information to those articles since 2001:

That's better but the articles do seem to be all over the place, like for med students and women's groups. Perhaps Year 3 and Grade three is not just pertaining to schools. Perhaps I need to try primary and elementary as search terms instead. I had thought that those term would make it too broad. This is a real trial and error process:
("Primary" OR "elementary" ) ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "SOSE" OR "Social Studies" -science) 
This yielded 35 700! I think that by adding the word school to primary and elementary and using the quotation marks so that the full phrase "Primary school" or "elementary school" is identified, will narrow it down. 

("Primary school" OR "elementary school" ) ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "SOSE" OR "Social Studies"  -science)

That's better, 10, 800. But still seem to getting science related articles as well. I'm feeling more adventurous so I'll drop SOSE to see if that impacts on the science results. I also think I have an extra space before the -science which might be impacting. I'll change the word school to students as well. I feel I'm getting closer to the more useful articles! Here goes!
("Primary students" OR "elementary students" ) ("Inquiry-Based Learning" OR "Inquiry Learning" OR "Inquiry") (History OR "Social Studies" -science)
Bingo! 736 results! Much better and no science articles. This is encouraging and a few more useful articles have appeared. A little frustrating if you need to subscribe to get an article but some are available as a full text from QUT. I have even worked out how to access the back issues of Social Studies Research and Practice. This should be a source of useful readings for my area.
Another limiting feature I have discovered is that my Year 3 students are in between Early Childhood and Middle Primary/Elementary.  The elementary banding covers quite a few years and grade levels. It does seem more appropriate to align them with the elementary literature and make some adaptations as the Early Childhood materials often are too young or simplistic.


ENOUGH for one day. My head is spinning and the collection of useful materials is growing but I feel satisfied that I am moving in the right direction . . . . . . . . . . I THINK!