You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Wetland Biodiversity
Very hands on feeling to videos and a very good learning experience all up! One of my sons loves animals and the outdoors. Living in New Zealand we all should know about the importance of these areas.
Hannelie van der Linde from Van der Linde Family Home School
It is a great way to motivate students and it was set at the approximate age and interest. The virtual field trip was effective and we are planning a field trip to our local wetland area next term.
Pamela Furze from Roto-O-Rangi School
Great for Maori and Pasifika students and ESOL.
Anthony Cairns from Wellington High 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
The content and style of learning is so engaging for the children. Love the strong Science focus. It was a good field trip to compare local, national and global - it lent itself really well to discussion.
Jan Thompson from Banks Avenue School
Students were engaged. They went on to the website in their own time, of their own accord as well as at school and shared this learning with their families. It was great having the different levels (L.1-2 and L.2-3) to chose from with the activities so I could cater for the different needs in my classroom. Having an ambassador was also very engaging for students. Great coverage of a topic. Easy to use. Engaging. Student led learning. Caters for different levels. Māori content. ICT use. Good effective learning.
Te Ireland from Karoro School
Students felt they learned a lot. The LEARNZ trip was used to introduce our inquiry and then provided a good follow up. We also visited a local wetlands and planted trees. The key competencies of Thinking, and Participating and Contributing were well covered. The field trip integrated well with Science, Social Science, Art and English. There was also a good emphasis on ecological sustainability and community engagement.
Kathleen Rutherford from Sacred Heart School Dunedin
Supported inquiry questions. Connections were made between areas visited on the virtual field trip and local known areas. Questions that accompanied videos matched the questions students had in discussions.
Gabriel Hawke from St Mary's School (Hastings)
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
Students were asked about the KC's they used during this field trip and they unanimously said: Thinking, Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing, and Managing Self. They also said they enjoy the enthusiasm of the presenters, especially Andrew (the LEARNZ Teacher).
Seuga Frost from Ohau School
Another valuable and appropriate topic from the LEARNZ team, as we knew very little beforehand about wetlands and their importance. LEARNZ is an excellent education tool.
Tracey Thomson from The Clan in a Caravan Homeschool
Utilised the focus on te reo and cultural-history aspect of biodiversity. Students enjoyed the field trip as part of our ecology topic -they engaged well with the learning and were willing to contribute.
Lucy Meagher from Havelock North High School
The field trip dove-tailed nicely with a trip we made to a wildlife reserve and reading material covered in class. Students were able to make connections with prior learning and consider some of the threats to wildlife with a view to how they could make changes or take action to make a difference. I have learners with a range of needs and some particularly benefit from having learning presented digitally.
Cara Carser from Westburn School
Great to see and hear interaction and questions from students of other schools, which set high expectations for my class with questioning. The support material is excellent and students are able to connect with Science community in real contexts.
Rosemary Benns from Rangeview Intermediate
The trips are well planned and resourced - especially with the use of field experts, and provide a wealth of material students can use to aid their studies. The multi-level pitch of these field trips makes them suitable for a range of ability levels, and they can be self-paced.
Robyn Gillies from Roncalli College
I LOVE the trips, as do my students. They are fun, relevant, interesting, and informative. The videos are fantastic as usual and so informative. Those who are interested were given the class log in details and they are watching the videos at home with family. I have had several comments from parents about how much they are all enjoying them.
Caroline Arnold from Lepperton School
Embedded LEARNZ and then went on our own field trip to Cleardale Wetland. More on my Blog.
Stuart Cooke from Methven Primary School
Students have learned so much and they have become overnight advocates for wetlands. The LEARNZ programme really enhanced the pronunciation of Maori place names, values and importance of early Maori traditions to our lives today.
Joanne Phillips from Te Mata School Havelock North
Students valued the inclusion of speakers who related the land and resources to an earlier style of living on the land by Maori, in pre-European times.
Maree O'Leary from Whangaparaoa College
The field trip provided good enrichment activities with plenty of scope for differentiation. The classes were involved, interested and thinking. They were able to relate the videos to their own experiences and knowledge. The field trips are useful for working collaboratively with other teachers and also as a basis for an enrichment model of gifted and talented education.
Leone Baylis from Fairburn School
The students loved it. It gave me an easy way to extend the knowledge of my more able students while also engaging my less able students. Great for peer work. Because of the way this was set up, I was able to create links to my class page, which encouraged students to access the class page out of school hours. We are also currently in the early stages of Enviro-schools; this helped get students thinking about what is going on around us as well as human impact.
Marcia Ferguson from Rosebank School Balclutha
It saves teachers valuable time. It is great to have the experts and a meaningful context for inquiry learning. My Year 3/4s learnt about braided rivers and were able to develop open questions for the audio conference. It was good to have a voice-over for the background pages. The panoramic section was excellent for making inferences.
Lynn Burrell from Waikite Valley School
LEARNZ adds depth to a study, and purposeful inquiry for reading groups. The background reading and the videos gave students a wide appreciation of the diversity of our native wetlands.
Katherine Webster from Waimairi School
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