Cover lesson · PE · Year 11 · Advanced

Researching evidence-based training: should sprinters stretch?

DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Eight search results”, one per pupil or pair. No computers needed: the search results are printed. If you are in a computer room, pupils may try their Step 2 search strings for real at the end, but the lesson does not depend on it.

Run: 5 min read “What you are doing” and the stimulus sheet · 7 min sharpen the question (Step 1) · 8 min build the search strings (Step 2) · 15 min judge the eight sources (Step 3) · 5 min place them on the evidence ladder (Step 4) · 5 min compare the newspaper with the study (Step 5) · 10 min write the research plan and recommendation (Step 6).

Collect: this sheet. The check you can make without any PE knowledge: in Step 6 every claim should be followed by a source letter in brackets, such as (B). A recommendation with no letters in it has not used the evidence.

What you are doing

Tomos is in Year 11 and runs the 100 m for his school. His coach has told him to stop doing long static stretches before races, but his dad says stretching is what made him fast. Tomos typed does stretching make you faster into a search engine and got the eight results on the stimulus sheet. You are going to show him how to search properly, judge each source, and plan research that would settle the question — the same process you use to plan your own training programme.

Search tools you can use

“Quotation marks” find an exact phrase: "static stretching" ignores pages that only mention the words separately.
OR (in capitals) finds either word: sprint OR sprinting
A minus sign removes a word: -buy hides many shop pages.
site: searches one kind of website: site:ac.uk (UK universities), site:gov.uk or site:gov.wales (government), site:nhs.uk (NHS).
Google Scholar searches only research papers and shows how many other papers have cited each one. Add review to a search to find articles that combine many studies.

Step 1 — sharpen the question

“Does stretching make you faster” is too vague to answer. Pin it down.

Who is it about?
What exactly is being done, and when?
Compared with what?
Measured how?

My focused research question:

Step 2 — build the search

List the key terms from your question and at least one alternative word for each.

Key term	Other words people might use

Search string 1 (for an ordinary search engine, using at least two of the tools in the box):

Search string 2 (for Google Scholar, to find research reviews):

Which of the eight results would each string probably have kept out, and why?

Step 3 — judge the eight sources

For each result: who made it, and why? What kind of evidence is it? Then give it a trust score for Tomos’s question, from 1 (useless) to 5 (strong).

Result	Who made it, and why?	What kind of evidence?	Score	Biggest weakness
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

Step 4 — the evidence ladder

Write each result letter on the rung where it belongs. The higher the rung, the more weight the evidence can carry. Some rungs may have more than one letter; one may have none.

Step 5 — the headline and the study

Result G says it is reporting Result C. List three things the headline claims that the study did not actually find or test.

The study found runners were 0.04 seconds slower over 20 m. Work out what percentage of 3.00 seconds that is. Is that a big effect or a small one for a sprinter?

Step 6 — the plan and the answer

(a) Research plan. Result B says most studies tested adults aged 18 to 30. Tomos is 16. Write the next two searches you would do, where you would do them, and what you would be looking for.

(b) Recording sources. Write Result B as a reference in this format: Author(s) (year) Title. Type of source. Date you read it.

(c) Recommendation for Tomos. In four or five sentences, tell Tomos what his race warm-up should include and what it should leave out. Put the letter of the source after every claim, and finish with one thing the evidence cannot yet tell him.

Step by step

5 min — Read the story and all eight results once, quickly.
7 min — Sharpen the question in Step 1.
8 min — Build your two search strings in Step 2.
15 min — Judge all eight sources in Step 3.
5 min — Place them on the ladder in Step 4.
5 min — Compare the headline with the study in Step 5.
10 min — Write the plan, the reference and the recommendation in Step 6.

Success criteria

I can turn a vague question into a focused research question that says who, what, compared with what, and measured how.
I can build search strings with exact phrases, alternatives, exclusions and site: limits, and explain what each one filters out.
I can judge a source by who made it, why, what kind of evidence it is and how recent it is.
I can rank evidence and spot where a news report goes further than the research it quotes.
I can write a recommendation where every claim is linked to a source, and say what the evidence still cannot tell us.

If you finish early

Result A has 4.8 stars from 2,391 reviews. Explain why customer star ratings are not evidence that a product makes anyone faster.
Write the question you would research next for your own training programme, and the Step 1 table for it.
Result E says its next review was due in March 2026. Why does a review date matter, and what would you check if you found a health page with no date at all?