You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Freshwater Ecology
Supports the school curriculum in innovative ways. We live in this area and students recognised many visual features and people interviewed. It reinforced classroom learnings as it linked to this term's curriculum studies.
Helen Gibson from Hilltop School
This method of learning was highly suited to a select group of my Year 9 students as it allowed them to self-manage, focus on learning, and at a later stage 'practice' through an EOTC field trip to a local freshwater stream. Excellent and most effective.
Ira Seitzer from Kamo High School
They are so relevant to the children who are at an impressionable age. They are now telling others what we should all be doing re health of our water sources. They were so focussed upon the videos and the short reading tasks held their attention and were relevant to what we were doing. The cultural component was relevant to all children, not specifically to just Maori or Pasifika ones. It is such a great resource for teachers and students alike.
Valerie Moratti from Havelock North Intermediate
It is a fun and educational way for the students to learn. It gives the opportunity for students to view places they may never get the opportunity to see.
Wendy Gibson-Chance from Opawa School
It gave a real context for elaborating on the aqueous chemistry we are studying. It gave a chance to explore a 'real world' environment from the comfort of our classroom, without spending the time and resources to commit to a full-blown field trip.
Paul Millican from St Margaret's College
The children are completely enthralled with taking a virtual trip in their own back yard - they have taken their learning home and are working on informing others of their new knowledge. We are a Year 4 class so at the earlier stage of the Learnz system but it was really easy for the kids to get to grips with. It prompted much learned conversation and interaction from the children, excellent. Each of the Key Competencies was well covered.
Sarah Sherriff from Waipahihi School
My class is very multi-cultural and has a varied spread of ability. The field trip allowed an inclusive learning programme to take place where every student felt success! All students were highly engaged and motivated ... I cannot emphasise this enough as the field trip created such a buzz of excitement, they could hardly wait to see what was happening within the field trip every day. As a teacher it was an exhilarating experience to see every student caught up in the learning. The knowledge the students gained from the field trip developed critical thinking skills. Everything is available on the LEARNZ website - it's a wonderful resource that creates real life science experiences for students. As a teacher it is easy to navigate the website and use the resources available. It also enables me as a teacher to creatively adapt resources/ knowledge for the students in my class.
Katrina Laurie from Clifton Terrace Model School
First time we tried a field trip - so much potential - it was great. We were learning together. Great timing for Te Wiki o Te Reo - Maori place names.
Deborah Mitchell from Waioneke School
We use material from completed field trips (Freshwater Ecology and Whio) on school camp at Tongaririo which provides excellent, authentic, high motivation support for our Year 7 students and relates well to our similar interets in Taranaki. I certainly appreciate the quality of the online resources that LEARNZ have produced. Thanks very much to the LEARNZ team.
Andrew McAllister from Sacred Heart Girls Collge New Plymouth
Because it was so interactive the children were 'hooked in' from the beginning. Listening comprehension was made to be fun as it was learning they were interested in. It covered everything we wanted to know and what we were learning about.
Kylie Parkes from Waipahihi School
We were teaching about NZ Rivers as a module class, combining Science and Social Studies, so it fitted the achievement objectives perfectly for our subject areas. Awesome!
Sarah Barge from Mountainview High School
We are planting our local waterway so this field trip helped the students understand why and how and where and when. "Wai Care?" was our focus for the term - used this field trip extensively.
Julie Sturch from Havelock North Intermediate
Tied into the 1.3 Geography Sustainability of tourism in Tongariro National Park. The videos gave great insight into the ecology of the area and how this ties in with all other things.
Bevan Hunter from Wanganui High School
Wetland Biodiversity
Watching the students get excited about their role (we were a speaking school, which was a breeze) and then watching them make connections in their learning, has been a real highlight. They built connections with the area the trip took us to and linked it to our local community and loved connecting what they were reading and hearing with specific people.
Cheryl Dunick from Spring Creek School
This field trip has helped me to step out of the classroom and look at what is on our doorstep. It is great for the children to learn about authentic contexts.
Beth Summers from Hinds School
Many of my students found the Māori Tikanga section the most interesting. I also liked that the learning was rewindable and allowed for student agency. The opportunity to experience a virtual field trip really excited the children and motivated them to want to find out more, as it provided a meaningful and authentic learning context that included SOLO and built on our own 'Freshwater Frolicking' field trip to The Groynes.
Anna Wright from Templeton School
I used this trip as part of my reading programme. Using ICT helped the children who were more visual learners. It enabled the children (Year 4-6) to use and improve their reading strategies across the curriculum. It motivated the children in their learning and was enjoyable for them. It put learning into an authentic context and gave the students easy access to experts who could extend their understanding.
Katryn Russell from Gore Main School
We enjoyed the audio conferences - the children who were involved in them will never forget that experience. This was the first time I have been on a virtual field trip and was pleasantly surprised at how much 5 year olds were able to get from it. Having Percy the Pukeko go as our ambassador helped the 5 year olds follow along. There was also lots of discussion to and fro between the children and parents.
Deborah Lamont from Methven School
Ties in to EOTC with the school camp this week which will focus on ecological sustainability. Students are already talking about the Rangitata River with new terminology. The boys were especially entranced with it all.
Jason Shaw from Geraldine High School
Our school curriculum focuses on the environment and having outside experts present information is a fantastic way to extend my students' learning and knowledge.
Sarah Laugeson from Lynton Downs School
The quality of resources is exemplary. Being able to access audio to support the readings is crucial for a number of learners in my class. The field trip met all of the learning intentions outlined by the LEARNZ overview and opened new lines of discussion and knowledge for all students.
Beverley Kemp from Karoro School
9 out of 10 of my children felt that they enjoyed this way of learning, and I can see a deeper curiosity for the world around them. They were able to take away more information than I thought possible.
Vicki Brookes from Fernside School
It supported excellence, high expectations, learning to learn, diversity and environmental sustainability, as well as the NZC level 4. It ticked all our Level 4 boxes. Great resource. My class can't wait to use it again.
Stephen Wood from Greymouth Main School
We used it as part of immersion for starting off on our journey of restoring a Wetland. It prompted questions, wonderings and enhanced their interest. Being able to send along an Ambassador was fantastic as it helped the younger members of our Wetlands group relate to what was happening.
Jillian Hodgson from Shotover Primary School
Our Inquiry was Sustainability this term and students really got into the field trip. It was a spectacular way for students to practice the Key competencies and meet people online they would otherwise have no access to.
Karen Blatchford from Tai Tapu School