You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
Whats the Plan Stan?
It worked in well with the nationwide earthquake drill and made students think about how to deal with different emergencies. Everything came into the Key Competencies, Health and PE curriculum, and our values at school.
The children love tuning in live and this really motivates them. We had been on the LEARNZ Kaikōura earthquakes trip earlier in the year and this was a great follow up.
Participation helped students to learn to work together as a team, so they were able to formulate appropriate questions to put to the experts. Really created an awareness of the need to have an emergency plan.
Connects with studets' wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau, and communities. Another vehicle that can be used to engage students with like-thinking students across the motu.
It was great to have real-life experiences recounted and for students to be able to communicate with scientists. The "What's the Plan, Stan?" topic was relevant, and seeing the conference call made students even more interested.
This field trip linked in really well with our Science Inquiry and the real world nature of the field trip, which the children felt connected to and motivated them to self-direct their learning and go further. I have had excellent learning from my children from the LEARNZ Virtual Field Trips. I think they are fantastic.
Children engaged with this resource and were excited to learn about disasters in this way. Background pages were a great support to the children's learning as they were easy to use as an independent or group or whole class activity, especially with two reading levels and with the read-aloud option.
I used it as part of my independent learning and group reading sessions. This field trip showed the children how they can be managing their own safety.
LEARNZ supports all areas of NZC - a wonderful resource!
The resources were excellent for research and reading tasks, and we learnt the importance of being prepared as we practiced our earthquake drills. Everything supported our unit of inquiry about natural disasters specific to New Zealand and my students valued being able to speak to experts in the field.
This field trip most definitely supported our students in becoming lifelong learners, who develop skills and strategies for real-life situations. Everything is well-researched and my Year 6-8 students and I particularly enjoy the presentation of the video clips.
It helped students to see the key competencies in action in a real life situation outside of the classroom.
The amount of information my students learn in these mini units is impressive and they generally retain more knowledge this way. Thanks for all the effort you put in. Saves on my planning too.
Antarctica
My Year 7 & 8 students found the field trip very engaging and effective for many reasons eg. extending knowledge, developing inquiry skills, digital technology. It also covered science and social science well, and variously incorporated the Principles, Values, and Key Competencies of the NZC.
Really enjoyed it! Lots learnt! Very effective - more so for the older kids but what my young enjoyed most was the diaries.
Very appropriate for Year 5/6 students, who loved the 'real' experience. Covers lots of the curriculum areas, from reading groups to individual programmes with students who have special needs. Web site means students can follow up at home and share with family what they have learnt.
This was an amazing way to make the learning come alive for our study of Antarctica. Very effective - personalised the learning.
Linked well to our inquiry this term on Ecosystems and Science.
The students particularly enjoyed the videos and the quizzes. They also commented on how much they liked how the diaries were written as if they were there. This LEARNZ Antarctica trip fitted in well with the Nature of Science aspects of questioning and using vocabulary that we were focussing on.
The idea of virtually going to Antarctic created such a buzz and a HUGE level of engagement. It's great the way LEARNZ leaders connect with students - they present everything in such an accessible way but have high expectations that students can and will be able to understand fairly sophisticated concepts.
This is an effective and engaging part of my literacy programme. My Pasifika students, in particular, are much more engaged with a Learnz field trip than other academic activities. Especially relevant in meeting the vision of the NZ Curriculum.
This LEARNZ Antarctica field trip has given me the confidence to continue to integrate digital technology into my programmes. My class were very engaged in their learning and it was well integrated through Literacy, Science and Mathematics.
Freshwater Ecology
This method of learning was highly suited to a select group of my Year 9 students as it allowed them to self-manage, focus on learning, and at a later stage 'practice' through an EOTC field trip to a local freshwater stream. Excellent and most effective.
Students who watched videos were motivated to set up a fresh water tank at school. Good science, reinforcing concepts of food webs and freshwater ecosystems.
Natural Hazards
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.