You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
ShakeOut
The children saw themselves being part of a wider community, participating with other schools and learning from their questions. It was especially useful to have Te Reo words to complement the learning.
Reinforced other learning on natural disasters, emergency procedures and being prepared.
All my students could relate to the information according to individual ability and interest levels. LEARNZ opens up a whole new dimension of making outdoor teaching a reality.
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.
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.
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.
We used this across the school - very appropriate. It linked well with the main ShakeOut event, managing selves, and collaboration.
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.
It broadened students' thinking and understanding of the large scale of the event and excited them about the topic. The ability to access information, colleagues and a world which we otherwise wouldn't have access to makes the learning process really meaningful.
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?"
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.
We used the videos and some background pages for discussions.
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.
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.
Antarctica
Very effective, especially the videos. Fantastic with much of the planning done for the time-poor teacher. This field trip is fully supportive of Principles, Key values and Competencies as well as learning areas of our curriculum, thanks.
This unit linked with our topic of sustainability and enabled cross curricular learning in a digital context. This type of learning resource helps students to work at their level, irrespective of where they start and their reading ability.
Children loved every part of the experience- thoroughly engaging. Really cool for the students to be able to participate with a group outside of their immediate context!
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.
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.
My students have a different view of the world we live in after this field trip. My students love the field trips.
You do a great job of preparing and motivating us to engage with the topic. Well structured for all students. Even low achieving readers well engaged. Covered science, values, aspirations and career information.
It was superbly rich with a wide range of activities to select from, to cater for differentiated learning in a class of individuals with multiple learning needs. LEARNZ Field trips have been an intrinsic part of my teaching aand learning programme for many years now. Extremely appropriate.
The audio conversations were brilliantly done along with the accompanying videos, plus questions being typed and answered while online. I have been intrigued and surprised by how much my young students have taken on board during the trip.
Kea
We used a lot of the information from your field trip for our current unit about developing an enrichment toy for an animal at the zoo, as the Hamilton Zoo has keas to entertain. One comment was: 'This was the most fun research we have ever done!' The kids loved the videos and quizzes and we especially liked the listening option of the background pages for our low readers.
High Country
The field trips meet the needs of lots of learners and enables multi level learning on the same topic. I like the ability to easily revise, and work can be looked at outside the classroom. Excellent links to key competencies, self management, use of 21st century learning environment.