You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
I have found the LEARNZ website an invaluable tool to support the learning needs of my class.
Perfect timing for Matariki. Tamariki were very connected with this field trip. Strong Social Sciences link around cultural ways of knowing.
As this was about Matariki and Navigation, it was of interest to my Maori and Pasifika students and showed them that we valued their stories. Excellent opportunity for all my students to learn in areas that would otherwise be inaccessible and from people they can't access locally.
The kids loved seeing our ambassador and reading her diary. Thank you.
This field trip is a great experience and learning for students and teachers alike. It caters particularly well to the High Expectation, Inclusion, Cultural diversity and Treaty of Waitangi Principles. All students have access to the knowledge offered by the audio option, and learning of Te Reo words, history and culturally different points of view are being taught.
Students really enjoyed it and were really engaged. They feel able to connect with their history and it has opened up discussions about our own past.
Excellent that students could replay the web conferences, as they can view later to find answers to their questions and hit the pause button as often as they need.
The topic linked into our current Integrated Inquiry. Great resources on the website that the kids enjoyed interacting with.
This field trip allowed my students to engage with Matariki in a new and interesting way. My students used all the key competencies and were given complete responsibility for sharing their new knowledge; we ended up with 2 raps, a play, a pop-up book and a speech. It was awesome.
Good background and build-up to Matariki. Prompted cultural awareness and discussions.
Students were excited to go on this virtual field trip and really enjoyed using Google maps. They were motivated to do the activities, which utilised all key competencies and encouraged multiple learning styles.
Trips like this are great because all of the students can access the material, not just the capable readers, as so much of the content is video based. Being able to access the material after the event is also great.
Appropriate as my class was investigating this topic. This is another way to connect my students' learning to a wider community and it let my students see that other kids ask similar questions.
It was a lot of fun and very valuable learning. It took a lot of the research and planning out of my hands and allowed me to learn alongside my students.
A lot of learning happened for my Year 3-4 class through the background pages and videos. The trip linked to NZC through Science, Maths, Literacy and KCs. Resources were easy to use, and good to have knowledge imparted by experts.
Totally appropriate as we have spent the term focussing on our origins and how our ancestors reached NZ. For the Māori children, in particular, the story of Kupe was perfect.
It integrated well with the NZ Curriculum i.e. Thinking, Managing self, Relating to others, Participating and contributing, High expectations, Treaty of Waitangi, and Future focus.
The content was pitched perfectly for Year 7 & 8 tamariki. As part of our unit of inquiry based around ecosystems & biodiversity, there were strong curriculum links. The word bank helped build our te reo Māori too.
The BioBlitz trip was an excellent activity in terms of supporting NZ Curriculum objectives in Science and Ecology for Levels 3 and 4. Science is a way of explaining the world and scientists work together to support their ideas. Ecology - students can see how organisms are adapted to their environment.
Helped my teaching practice, as this BioBlitz field trip was a helpful tool to differentiate my teaching. Students enjoy a different form of lesson delivery, too.
In this virtual field trip, the students studied creatures while learning about the concepts of biodiversity and conservation so we built our Inquiry around native animals. We decided to go to the Groynes and check out creatures there. We also looked at the wildlife at Willowbank.
Supported all of the KC's, the Nature of Science and the science capabilities.
Pitched at a perfect level for my Year 4/5 class and went well for our place-based focus for the term. It supported and excited my students in an inclusive and well-planned way.
It fitted in with our next unit "Living Landscapes" and my students' interets in NZ spiders. It was my first time doing a live web conference and my class and I found it to be enjoyable, especially hearing from the experts, and they learned about the etiquette of that situation.
The learners were excited by the theme of the trip and carried out their own BioBlitz as a result. LEARNZ provides great resources and exciting opportunities for our learners to hear from experts in the field and to see practical applications for their learning.