You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand

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.
It is a fun and educational way for the students to learn. It gives the opportunity for students to view places they may never get the opportunity to see.
Through the LEARNZ programme my students are developing more complex questioning skills and thinking critically about New Zealand and World issues. Lots of opportunities to gain skills in reading and writing, as well as in the Key Competencies.
It gave a real context for elaborating on the aqueous chemistry we are studying. It gave a chance to explore a 'real world' environment from the comfort of our classroom, without spending the time and resources to commit to a full-blown field trip.
We particularly enjoy the videos and questions, as they are effective at any time. Followed on from our water study and reinforced our learning around water ecosystems. The field trips have relevance even when they don't exactly fit a planned topic. I am hooked!
My class is very multi-cultural and has a varied spread of ability. The field trip allowed an inclusive learning programme to take place where every student felt success! All students were highly engaged and motivated ... I cannot emphasise this enough as the field trip created such a buzz of excitement, they could hardly wait to see what was happening within the field trip every day. As a teacher it was an exhilarating experience to see every student caught up in the learning. The knowledge the students gained from the field trip developed critical thinking skills. Everything is available on the LEARNZ website - it's a wonderful resource that creates real life science experiences for students. As a teacher it is easy to navigate the website and use the resources available. It also enables me as a teacher to creatively adapt resources/ knowledge for the students in my class.
Our students loved being able to manage their own learning from the website and being introduced to new experiences such as the audio conferences. Great for the learners who have difficulties with literacy - easy background and listening features are excellent for them.
First time we tried a field trip - so much potential - it was great. We were learning together. Great timing for Te Wiki o Te Reo - Maori place names.
We were teaching about NZ Rivers as a module class, combining Science and Social Studies, so it fitted the achievement objectives perfectly for our subject areas. Awesome!
We are planting our local waterway so this field trip helped the students understand why and how and where and when. "Wai Care?" was our focus for the term - used this field trip extensively.
Students were captivated by this context. An outstanding resource to facilitate effective learning.
Following the Inquiry model for the field trip meant students were co-constructing their own learning. It provides current and informative resources. Students were able to form good research questions.
We found it really interesting and helpful towards our inquiry topic "Wai Care". It gave us a whole new perspective on nature and wildlife. We enjoyed feeling like we were out there with you experiencing it. LEARNZ ... helps all learners.
Students were asked about the KC's they used during this field trip and they unanimously said: Thinking, Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing, and Managing Self. They also said they enjoy the enthusiasm of the presenters, especially Andrew (the LEARNZ Teacher).
Fitted in very well with our Term School focus of Kaitiaki and Science focus of Living World. Preparing for the audio conference extended our students thinking and created a whole new level of class discussions and understanding.
Utilised the focus on te reo and cultural-history aspect of biodiversity. Students enjoyed the field trip as part of our ecology topic -they engaged well with the learning and were willing to contribute.
It is an amazing opportunity for the students to able to experience natural NZ. As this is our first virtual field trip we are busy exploring and familiarising ourselves with the website and using it as a warm up for Kauri (the next field trip).
We were studying a local waterway and were able to compare the bio-diversity between our waterway in the Far North with a fresh waterway in the South Island. The students were motivated to research their topic, find out more about their own community and particularly enjoy the audio conference and following their ambassador.
The children were fascinated by the virtual field trip videos. They learnt a lot of new ideas and words and talked about it for days. The field trip was effective as it showed our students that other people did what we do.
Great to see and hear interaction and questions from students of other schools, which set high expectations for my class with questioning. The support material is excellent and students are able to connect with Science community in real contexts.
The field trip supported all of the Key Competencies, attitudes and values of the NZ Curriculum, and our own school Curriculum.
I feel it covered all areas of the key competencies - I used it to foster new learning relationships within our class, and it was an excellent tool to draw out my innovative thinkers. Due to the video nature of this field trip, the students were very engaged.
Ability to have contact with scientists and other experts provides an authentic learning experience. We were able to learn about other wetlands and compare them to our local wetlands. Great background information and resources. Thank you!
Comprehensive resources in a local context. My Year 10 student gains: posting a question to an expert, literacy from background reading.
Science is an area we are trying to strengthen and this was a perfect opportunity to put the students in a real life context or study. The students were really engaged in the topic. I am looking forward to sharing with my students both the Antarctic and ANZAC Memorial Park trips. Both are topics we were already studying.