You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand

The topic tied in nicely with our class health focus on 'being in the waka' and working together. Although many of my students didn't connect culturally to this field trip, it was a new experience for them and therefore was engaging.
The content was engaging and this was evident in the thinking that took place and the work produced by all my students, who absolutely loved this trip regardless of their abilities or interests. For our Maori students this was a particularly awesome experience and it was also great to look at hauora from the angle of working together to crew the waka.
It (the virtual field trip) allowed our students to be involved and part of something that wouldn't be attainable in a normal classroom setting. It totally enhanced my learning programme and enabled me to get support and guidance using the NZ curriculum.
Very relevant to our Term Two inquiry about Māoritanga and how it is shared and celebrated in NZ. I use LEARNZ withy my class because I am always able to find something that suits the children's interests, and the real-life situations are so relevant and motivating.
Outstanding and supports student development in all areas. High interest and enthusiasm to learn. Wonderful context for our polynesian/maori majority students as connections are made with how their ancestors made significant migrations.
Anything to do with Culture is well received by our Maori students! Also covered all the Key Competencies. Was fantastic to be able to be a part of the field trip. Our students loved it!
An interesting style of learning - lots of potential. This has been a great experience as a teacher and for the class.
While all students benefit from the material, I found this one to be especially relevant to our local Maori students. It was also very useful as part of our reading programme when used with a graphic organiser for finding, selecting and retrieving relevant information.
This field trip supported the key competencies and learning areas well.
Brilliant! It was my first time but it was a great way to get detailed information from an expert, live. The children in my class were asking loads of questions relating to answers given, which gave them lots of things to think about! The field trip related to "Participating and Contributing", as all my children got involved in thinking about their own emergency kits and some said they needed to get one.
It helped with critical thinking, managing personal plans and responsibility in a disaster. A great way to have a different teaching medium with other experts to answer questions and supply information.
Resiliance was a key idea we discussed, as were some of the key competencies and their application in real life situation. Right level, good content.
Great to follow this field trip while preparing for Shake Out on Thursday. Engaging way of learning for students. Lots of great information given and the opportunity to ask questions of experts.
We think this (field trip) was very effective as we are much wiser about what we need to do at school and at home, to be prepared during and after an earthquake. LEARNZ is a remarkable online learning community which allowed us to get information on earthquakes from schoolchildren, parents and teachers.
We used this across the school - very appropriate. It linked well with the main ShakeOut event, managing selves, and collaboration.
Very appropriate - supported student learning about earthquakes and doing the ShakeOut drill. Interesting, motivating and flexible - students get a lot from having readings, videos, audioconferences, activities, and photos.
Very relevant for year 7 students. I really like the audio voice over which has allowed the lower reading level students to work with a lot of independence, without having to wait for the teacher to say the word / discuss the word / explain context etc.
My Yr 5&6 class were very engaged with this field trip. The information was easy to access for the students who find reading difficult (great to have an NZ voice reading the background pages), but there was enough for my high achieving students as well. The live audio conferences were very useful - next time we will definitely put ourselves down for a speaking school role!
We used the videos and some background pages for discussions.
The levelled information was great. It also was at an apt time as far as reinforcing evacuation and preparedness as a class/school/whanau. I liked the availability of the videos and audio conferences to review and use, even though the fieldtrip had ended.
We are a sole charge school of 12 students and I was able to adapt the content to suit all levels within my class. This was our first live field trip and the students really enjoyed it and got a lot from it. There were lots of comments over the week about how 'cool' and 'fun' it was.
We are looking at change and our ways to survive. It (the field trip) gave more specialist knowledge to students, that the teacher could not give.
The visual content helped quite a lot of discussion. So many real life experiences that the children can piggy back onto. The Field Trip was an asset for all the class. Thank you.
We had been involved in the Geohazards VFT so the children were well briefed and ready to take part in ShakeOut. The class really looks forward to taking part in the LEARNZ trips.
Was topical and at appropriate level for my student. Encouraged good discussion and gave excellent information. Student said "That was great. Can we do another one?"