You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Helped my teaching practice, as this BioBlitz field trip was a helpful tool to differentiate my teaching. Students enjoy a different form of lesson delivery, too.
In this virtual field trip, the students studied creatures while learning about the concepts of biodiversity and conservation so we built our Inquiry around native animals. We decided to go to the Groynes and check out creatures there. We also looked at the wildlife at Willowbank.
Supported all of the KC's, the Nature of Science and the science capabilities.
Pitched at a perfect level for my Year 4/5 class and went well for our place-based focus for the term. It supported and excited my students in an inclusive and well-planned way.
It fitted in with our next unit "Living Landscapes" and my students' interets in NZ spiders. It was my first time doing a live web conference and my class and I found it to be enjoyable, especially hearing from the experts, and they learned about the etiquette of that situation.
The learners were excited by the theme of the trip and carried out their own BioBlitz as a result. LEARNZ provides great resources and exciting opportunities for our learners to hear from experts in the field and to see practical applications for their learning.
We have been focussing on collaboration so students used this unit to work together to find information and monitor their own learning. It was easy for the children to navigate and use the website independently.
It followed on very well from the inquiry we have been doing into the plants in our local native bush. The most noticeable impact was a increase in our classes' scientific vocab. Great opportunity to communicate and collaborate with others outside of our school.
It was an appropriate level of challenge, and was fun and engaging at the same time. My students are buzzing after this experience. and are excited about the next LEARNZ field trip.
Participation was great as we got to go Iceland!
The timing and content of the field trip was appropriate for my Year 9 class and they were all engaged, especially in the live web conference. I thought the virtual field trip was a valuable experience; both for the students and for my professional development.
Interesting insight into volcanoes and earthquakes. Kids were amazed to learn about other countries with the similar to NZ geological issues. Activities were interesting.
As a individual teacher, I could never hope to organise and present learning opportunities to students as well as the Learnz team does. The natural hazards topic was very engaging for the students and the LEARNZ trip provided variety to my teaching programme and suited my e-learning class.
Maori students enjoyed learning Maori words related to the topic; they felt included and their culture appreciated. The field trip supported our learning about planet Earth, especially in comparison between NZ and Iceland.
It encouraged a purposeful use of digital devices. The children found it very interesting to hear the scientists, see the location and the work that is being done. It brought everything to life for them.
This field trip along with the last allowed our learners to ask questions, be inquisitive and actively involved in what is happening in our world.
The children love these experiences. This was such a great follow up to the earlier Kaikoura earthquake field trip and built into our own study of Natural Disasters. It has added to our deep and thorough learning. Can't wait for the next one.
This virtual field trip took my teaching to another level - I have integrated LEARNZ into my Google Classroom environment and this is brilliant. Students enjoyed the ability to ask questions during web conferences and appreciated being able to go back and review them.
My class were able to learn at their own level and pace, at the same time exploring the Principle of Learning to Learn and reflecting on how best they learned. Great to see my students raise their level of questioning and their confidence and independence since our first LEARNZ web conferences, on the previous field trip.
Very engaging for Year 7 & 8 students. Students had a lot of opportunities to direct their own learning using the Chromebooks; they were managing self. This was my first LEARNZ trip so really pleased to discover this is another way to bring science into the classroom in such a real way.
Gave us some great connections and real life examples of what we have been reading, talking and doing experiments about. It tapped into a lot of natural interest we have in our class, especially following our visit to a geyser at Te Puia.
The experience has provided me with another tool to help teach my students and provide them with another learning tool to learn. Students are beginning to thinking more critically about the world we live in and how it all works. Seeing themselves on screen talking to experts and listening to other schools ask questions, that were answered, was very helpful.
The resources and information from this field trip are going to continue to be useful for the rest of this term. The connections that are made for our students to see others involved and other parts of our country/world are fantastic.
From the NZC, all Principles, Values covered in the programme, Key Competencies all used to reinforce learning; Science - natural hazards - future focus.
It got the children thinking about volcanoes and earthquakes in NZ. Clear topics and answers were in kid talk.