You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Relates well to developing thinking and analysis skills, applying information and evaluating conservation issues. Students used the information as a basis to do further research on NZ Great Walks.
It helped to put our school values and KC's in a real learning experience - one which the students could discuss. It also allows my class to have access to experts.
Students said about the live audioconferences: "We got to talk to real people who are actually there" and "We get to ask questions and they actually listened to us". This field trip enabled my students of different academic abilities to all access the same information in a number of different ways, which led to great discussion and debate about aspects of physical activity and conservation.
Our Inquiry is called "Waipahihi Kakariki". We are a pilot school involved in Kids Greening Taupo so it was very appropriate to our Inquiry. We are wanting to plant natives to bring back native birds into our area so this field trip supported it well.
It was a great support for the Virtual Great Walkers competition, that we have entered in. Lots of helpful information that covered all areas. Valuable resource.
This field trip ... encouraged students to develop Future Focused thinking - how the way we interact with our environment now, impacts on the future.
It was very engaging for all students and they learnt a lot. It was also easy to integrate across the curriculum. Very effective to encourage fitness and knowledge of other New Zealand Great Walks.
Great for extension group. Broad range of materials for reading and writing.
For the Year 7/8 class I was working with, the field trip tied in perfectly with their camp (Borland Lodge). It worked well using the background pages as build up prior to camp, then using the audio-conferences the week following the camp.
Giving the students the option of listening to the background pages is fantastic! It takes away the fear of trying to read something that is 'too hard'. It also develops a familiarity with the LEARNZ teacher.
It was an excellent insight into exploring a new area that not a lot of children had visited before. The children came up with a lot of great questions, especially around saving native birds and the effect of a beach mast this year.
Our class is studying ecology in the lead up to our annual camp so the information was very fitting in all aspects.
Students are focussed and engaged. They have a purpose. "This is fun, I didn't know you can learn like this". During camp we studied the native birds and plants and compared them to the field trip. A great effort went into using our thinking skills to prepare for camp and doing the research.
Children inspired to walk tracks and parents wanting to join them. Great topics, different way of presenting things in class, able to get involved through audioconferences. Differentiated readings and audio/video options meant all class could access information, including Special Needs children.
We connected this field trip with an older one - Restoring the Kepler. By doing this, students began to look at ways that they can contribute in the wider community as well as our school community, working towards a common goal. Maori students in the class particularly liked the glossary - we also added more to our own one on the wall.
Students were really interested in the content which we used as part of our weekly reading programme and to support digital literacy. We also set it up for independent learning so students could gain self-management skills.
Excellent presentation and a great learning experience for the students. Students really enjoyed a different approach to learning and it was good that the weaker readers were able to participate.
Engages the students. Interesting material which covers a breadth of issues and topic areas. Students gained an understanding of the Antarctic food web.
LEARNZ is a great way to study a topic using a medium that is accessible to all, even my low vision student and those with poor reading skills. The Antarctica field trip supported the science and social studies areas of the curriculum and much more, such as the key competencies.
It has been one of the best units I have taught in my 16 years of teaching - I would recommend it to anyone. I do think that it has been particularly successful in my classroom because we signed up for the extras such as the ambassador and the audio conferencing - that's what really made it come alive for me and the children in my class.
Very appropriate for year 7/8 students. They absolutely loved being able to look at the resources, especially the photo/video content. It gave maximum opportunity to discuss what they were looking at and learning.
Students became very curious with lots of wonderings about Antarctica and they decided that science is really cool. The field trip made for fun learning and helped us use the i-pads and laptops more effectively for independent research.
The students were highly motivated throughout this field trip. A fantastic resource that can be used easily within any classroom setting to support classroom programmes around skills and attitudes we are fostering with our children.
It was in line with our learning focus for this year of being a fully digital classroom. Online help was all good.
Excellent source of information for the students, aimed at their level, well presented and easy for the students to access and work with. Students found it extremely interesting and they learnt plenty of new things about Antarctica.