You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
Kereru Count
We live in an area where Kererū are of significant importance and this really highlighted this for the students. Covered a wide area of teaching specific NZ values.
Fantastic link to the Great Kererū Count. Helped support learning in class and our participation in the count itself.
Suited the inquiry process the students were about to begin locally. Supported our classroom based programme - good ideas that we could follow.
This trip was real science in action and my students had buy-in from the start. The videos and real life experiences are very beneficial to the children's learning, opening their eyes to the wider world and I love the way the field trips incorporate aspects of Maori culture and beliefs.
As I am retiring, I want to thank you for providing this service which I have used for the last 6 years at two different schools.
My students were very engaged in the kererū topic and enjoyed learning about something they could see in their own environment. It aligned with our theme/values this term of tangata whenua - kaitiakitanga. The web site encouraged independent learning and I was also able to use it to enhance our reading and writing programme.
The students love the fact that the website format doesn't change from field trip to field trip. When you have chosen the 'right' field trip, there is an increase in student agency. As we live in an area where there are plenty of Kereru, this field trip was very appropriate in the leadup to the Great Kereru Count.
Great. We used it to plan our own Kereru Count field trip.
For my NZ students currently living overseas, it was most effective in raising their awareness of fauna back home and actions some people have taken to help kerer.
It supported teaching about the principles and values of the NZC for this group of 5-10 year old students, who are a part of the school's environmental team. It has been a driver for these students to form connections with those experts in our community who can support their projects, such as biosecurity officers at the regional council and local iwi.
Helped to get students actively involved and participating in science and suitability projects.
Very appropriate and engaging both due to the focus of the unit and the delivery. Extremely motivating for the students learning. Great to have the personal touch where the children get to interact with Andrew. Very relevant and future focused.
Excellent and effective in students gaining an appreciation of our unique environment. Retiring and I want to thank you for providing this service. I have used it through out many many years of teaching, and have always found it to be of a very high standard.
Provided wonderment and awe !!!! The akonga loved it - fantastic. Amazing PD for me, too.
Our class name is Kereru and we did the Kereru Count last year, so lots of links - videos etc held our interest, taught us new content, sparked discussion. Future focussed, fits in with our school value of Kaitiakitanga, visions of sustainability and connectedness. Easy access online tool which has real life context. Great.
Students could relate to this, as we have kereru around our school and it was good to find out ways to make sure this continues. Fabulous way to learn about what is really happening in and around our country and then transfer that learning to local communities.
Waterview Connection
A large number of my boys had visited the Waterview Connection project - they found the field trip very interesting, which sparked enthusiastic discussions. It also provided another tool to engage my boys to read and write in a real life context.
The field trip about the Waterview Connection was particularly interesting for some of my boys with an engineering bent, and they asked some good questions. The time-lapse video and pictures were particularly engaging for the class and they really enjoyed the detailed information available on the website about Alice the TBM.
Supported the oral language key competencies and enabled science to be integrated in the reading programme.
Garden Bird Survey
The materials to support learning prior to the field trip were very appropriate and provided coherence between learning areas in a real-world context. Reinforced students' understanding of the interconnectedness of flora and fauna while being part of a nationwide survey that was meaningful to them.
Timely and relevant.
Geohazards
This Learnz Geohazards site allowed my students to work at their own pace and helped them to become drivers of their own learning.
It gave my students an authentic opportunity to engage with experts and ask quality questions. They were able to link the concepts to their reading and writing as well as engaging with scientific concepts and social studies.
Supported L6 of the Science curriculum, in particular the ESS standards, plus Nature of Science for my Year 12 Science class. Video conversations enabled the "real"world into the classroom - the presenters are more than talking heads, as they have a wealth of background knowledge and make learning fun.
Love your Rubbish
Effective with real time and current information that covered many facets of inquiry and opened up deeper thinking. Receiving the letter with the liner sample from CWS was fabulous! Established a very tangible connection for students.