You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
The students were highly motivated throughout this field trip. A fantastic resource that can be used easily within any classroom setting to support classroom programmes around skills and attitudes we are fostering with our children.
I run the GATE programme and we do Future Problem Solving so the ecological sustainability was particularly relevant. A great teaching tool which is motivating for students.
My curriculum focus was supported fully by the LEARNZ Antarctica programme and two NIWA scientists visiting the class in person helped no end to endorse what we had learned. Some students were able to really drive their own learning, while having the two levels for reading enabled some of my less able readers to participate more fully.
I really enjoy the learnz trips. My class loved learning about preservation and discovery in Antarctica. It delved into the deeper questions.
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.
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!
Fantastic links to the science curriculum AOs - lots of learning due high interest and combination of videos and great background information. Learnz is real world and happening at the moment. Where else can you get this sort of access to scientists and researchers?
The whole field trip has added a sense of authenticity to student learning. This really is a wonderful way to give us invaluable learning experiences - students have been so engaged and have been thinking of their own experiments to test some of the things that they have learnt.
I thought LEARNZ did a great job of mixing up content that covered multiple curriculum areas in a logical and accessible way. Most of the time my Year 8-9 class were engaged and absorbed by what was happening. Well done.
Great resource with a variety of media. Very comprehensive, providing students with another layer of learning material connected to real world around them.
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.
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.
It motivated my top reading group. It was well organised, informative and something different to use as a reading tool/experience.
This is a rich experience for students who know NZ but are often living offshore.
Having all of the Antarctica resources together makes it very easy for students to self-explore the parts of the topic they are especially interested in. The real benefit for us has been having all of the audio with the readings for my lower readers; they prefer to listen and the NZ accent of the reader is a bonus.
The context of this Antarctica learning trip was helpful to discuss the ESS topic (L5): Earth systems. Students learnt lots of new things about Antarctica and sea ice formation, with some good extra teaching material and activities to extend students.
The field trip was extremely appropriate and challenging. Very effective. My class really got into it - it was so well organised for teachers and students.
Real life engagement with scientists on ice was interesting - great for students to see what we had been studying in real life.
Seeing people passionate about their interest is so encouraging for kids. We were focusing on fossils and limestone of North Otago, so it was useful comparing with Waitomo.
This field trip tied in nicely with our Science topic this term. Students were highly engaged throughout the field trip and are highly passionate about using LEARNZ in the classroom.
Fantastic - we were going to Waitomo on our field trip, and the timing and content could NOT have been better. Greatly improved audioconferences - the backchannel improved engagement, and the kids were highly interested in hearing their questions asked over the Internet, and the immediate responses.
Easy to use loads of resources, visual and device friendly, mascot was great connector. My students enjoyed the 4 language options as this included every student except my Kiribati one. Being able to put questions to experts in the live audio conference as well as in the back channel chat was great.
It built nicely onto our class trip to Oamaru airport. Children were engaged - videos and activities were much enjoyed. Audioconferences are a great way to engage the children - developing and asking their own questions is great.
Great outside of the classroom learning and the kids love the fact that it is a virtual trip.
For many it was very engaging, and they especially enjoyed learning about customs as well as how an airport works and the many types of jobs that people do there. Students enjoy learning online - they love the videos and love seeing their ambassador and getting updates from him.