You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
The link to Te Reo vocabulary was great. The videos, ability to listen as well as read the texts, the quizzes and diaries were all great. They encouraged me to hand over responsibility for learning more to the children and gave them ownership of the tasks. Some more introverted children shared some great findings from the field trip.
I have been using LEARNZ for over 10 years - it is so awesome. Extremely beneficial in helping students see real life issues outside of the classroom.
It allowed us to complete learning in technology, ICT, science and maths.
Roads and road safety and public spaces are a part of everyday life, so it was great to think about and talk about how this effects us and how our behaviour effects others, in a meaningful way. I love, as always, the Learnz topics and the framework provided to have some interesting conversations, share ideas, and expand our knowledge in fun and interesting ways.
Thorough integration of curriculum elements. For this field trip, we followed a pattern in class inquiry and core subjects.
It allowed for huge flexibility. Our unit is based around the Place and Environment AOs of the Social Science learning area, and it was perfect. Kids were very engaged and particularly looked forward to the daily videos.
My students love working in pods learning and researching on all the background pages and then seeing the real life videos. To the LEARNZ team thank you for such an awesome resource, that I love using with my students!
We are looking at our local river and the field trip gave us a context in which we could link our reading programme and link it through science. The class was engaged and went onto the images and background pages during independent learning times. Awesome trip - thanks Andrew and team.
This field trip was excellent and a fantastic opportunity to talk to inspiring, knowledgeable and caring experts. My students now have clarity around the direction for their action plans, therefore the field trip was effective, appropriate and supported the Principles, Values, Key Competencies, Learning Areas and Vision of the NZ Curriculum. Being able to re-watch the web conferences with the additional notes and links is really helpful.
This mapping field trip was a great context to explore sustainability and te ao māori.
The option for viewing the videos etc. at a time that does not conflict with other school commitments, is extremely valuable. Contributed to student agency so class members could be self managing, collaborative and use their literacy and numeracy skills in authentic and rich contexts.
The web conferences in particular encouraged my Year 1-8 students to listen carefully to ideas from other schools and the experts, so they could contribute themselves.
The students have continued, even after the end of the field trip, to explore their own passions around mapping, e.g. mapping their own whanau story. My Maori students showed full engagement in this trip, especially when listening to the oral stories of the local area. LEARNZ definitely supports my teaching, by providing a wide variety of resources and experts to support the class inquiry learning.
It fitted in perfectly with our "Our Place" inquiry with high levels of engagement in this meaningful and authentic activity. Having each learner research and share their cultural heritage and ancestry has been enlightening and empowering. Using the digital tool Tour Builder and Google earth to map their waahi (ancestral journey) incorporated the new strands of the Technology curriculum with learners designing and creating using digital technology, not just consuming.
This trip was useful in discussing the topography of New Zealand, prior to guiding the students into thinking about natural disasters as part of our Cause and Effect inquiry. We found the web conferences most helpful.
I used the background pages with my class, as they fitted really well with my unit plan.
This trip provided opportunities and learning for my class that we would not have otherwise been able to access.
It was great that our students had access to real people; students from other schools and experts. We were most interested in the pepeha sections but used the web conferences (live and replay), the videos, and the activities on the web site.
This trip gave different students a chance to shine and it linked strongly to cultural competencies. LEARNZ helps me link my teaching to what is actually going on for us in New Zealand, and keeps lessons and unit plans real.
Because of the secondary timetable, I found it more useful for me (than my class) as PD on how to include digital ideas into the classroom. We did create a digital map in the last lesson of term so the field trip inspired me to have a go at something new with my class.
It enabled us to connect with other students around New Zealand.
The way the field trip was structured caught students attention and kept them interested. The emphasis on local history, starting with Maori legend worked really well. Lots of interest in being able to plot the trip using the mapping tool.
Not only were we able to see mapping and other tasks being done in the field, but being enjoyed. Life long learning was modelled.
All the students were engaged, especially my Maori and Pacific Island students who were empowered by this resource. I am always looking for different ways to engage the class and LEARNZ never fails to deliver. Thank you.
This field trip has covered such a big range from maths and new technologies to geography, personal family trees and history. All students have been involved and have learnt a lot about mapping skills and just general new initiatives that are out there, such as TourBuilder. Creating family backgrounds and sharing those is a great activity for inclusion and cultural diversity.