Physical Education Teaching Materials

Curriculum Laboratory

For further assistance in using any of the resources in the Lab, please ask at the Curriculum Lab Information Services Desk

Define your topic, and check basic sources.
According to Alberta Education's Program of Studies, "the aim of the Alberta Education Kindergarten to Grade 12 Physical Education Program is to enable individuals to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to lead an active, healthy lifestyle."

The curriculum is divided into 4 general outcomes:

General Outcome A: Students will acquire skills through a variety of developmentally appropriate movement activities; dance, games, types of gymnastics, individual activities and activities in an alternative environment; e.g. aquatics and outdoor pursuits.

General Outcome B: Students will understand, experience and appreciate the health benefits that result from physical activity.

General Outcome C: Students will interact positively with others.

General Outcome D: Students will assume responsibility to lead an active way of life.

Get relevant Alberta curriculum publications. Physical Education is covered in Alberta Education's curriculum publications in two places:

Elementary, Junior High and Senior High Schools Program of Studies -- covers what must be taught in Alberta schools.

Physical Education: Guide to Implementation -- provides practical assistance for teachers in implementing the Program of Studies outcomes. It includes planning, assessment and evaluation, grade specific assistance, and the Program of Studies.

Check on-line Curriculum document sources.

Find basic and support resources recommended by Alberta Education.

The Curriculum Laboratory orders most resources which have been approved for use in the classroom by Alberta Education. We order these items from the Learning Resources Centre (LRC). To find out what are the basic textbooks in Alberta:

Go to the Curriculum Laboratory main webpage.
Click on the link, "Alberta Education Authorized Resources Database."
You can select your "Curriculum Area," "Grade Level," and choose "Student Basic" from the"Authorization Status" menu.

There are no "basic" textbooks for physical education. However, in browsing the above database for physical education in general, over 230 resources are displayed. Some of these are listed below:

Some examples of general resources are:

Ready-to-use p.e. activities for grades . . . (796 Lan)

Physical education unit plans for . . . (796 Phy)

Ready-to-use secondary p.e. activities program: lessons, tournaments & assessments for grades 6-12 (796.07 Lum)

Some examples of specific resources are:

Safety guidelines for physical activity in Alberta schools (796.028 Saf)
Volleyball for children (796.325 Vol)
A bucketful of ball games (796.3 Bre)

Some examples of excellent series are:

Search "Human Kinetics" as an author for a excellent variety of physical education titles.
Search "Premier's Sports Awards" as a keyword for an excellent series on individual sports titles.
Search for "Young enthusiast's guide" as a title for some excellent browsing titles for children, on individual sports.

Search the EUREKA! Library Catalogue. For subject searches, start with Subject Heading - Library of Congress Search, and browse the subject headings and "related subjects" which come up on the screen. Use these general subject headings or related subject links to get the best possible list of materials.

Physical education and training --Gives you materials on physical fitness at all levels.
Physical education for children --Gives you more materials specific to teaching fitness programs for school-aged children.

For the best results, type in a specific subject heading:

e.g. "soccer" or "hockey" or "wrestling"
You can also add "coaching" or "study and teaching" to your specific search terms

If you are unhappy with the results of an author, title, or subject search, broaden your search using Keyword Search It searches the author, title, subject and notes fields of an item record. Some broad searches for this subject are listed below:

"physical education and teach*"
"physical education and curriculum" (You may also narrow this search by adding "and elementary" or "and secondary" to this search. e.g. "physical education and curriculum and elementary")

Browse the shelves (If you only want to search for materials in the Curriculum Lab, click on the Limit this search button and then change the location from ANY to CURLB-Curriculum Laboratory.):

Curriculum Lab hints and helps: You will find the physical education materials arranged under these Dewey Decimal numbers. The materials in the Curriculum Laboratory tend to be on practical teaching suggestions for the classroom:

Main library collection hints and helps: The "GV" section of the main library covers recreation and leisure. The materials in the main collection tend to be more theoretical in nature, and will be excellent for position paper topics.

The Vertical File will have lesson plans on all the main sports.

Check the Education Indexes/Databases on the Library Home Page. Type in search terms specific to your topic, or try the following general terms in these journal indexes:

Search the Internet:

The Curriculum Laboratory's Teacher's Sites lists many of the main Internet sites used by teachers, such as Alberta Education, LRC Resources Catalogues, and some comprehensive education sites containing educational issues and lesson plans, technology sites for teachers, etc.
The Curriculum Laboratory's Great Sites for Educators contains useful links such as Digital Resource Subscriptions (Learn Alberta, United Streaming Digital Video clips, etc.), Digital Reference resources, Kid's Sites, Lesson Plans, and links for Specific School Subjects.
Alberta Learning Physical Education Online includes links to authorized resources, lesson plans, lesson plan templates, a discussion forum, and home education.
The Physical Educator's Resource -- Maintained by Dr. David Chourney from the University of Alberta Faculty of Education, this site "is an online directory that aims to provide useful web links and other helpful resources for professionals in the field of physical education."

Prepared by: Bill Glaister, Curriculum Laboratory Coordinator, January 2002. Updated May 2009.