You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
The videos and background material on the Alpine Fault were useful to the students in their studies of Achievement Standard 1.1 - extreme natural events.
A neat and different way to engage kids.
Very appropriate for my multi level and age class. Well supported. The field trip enabled learners to gain knowledge in aspects of geology which they then used in writing and oral language. Students were highly engaged. Excellent resource!
Formed the basis of an introduction to AS90952 - Demonstrate understanding of the formation of surface features in New Zealand. Curiosity increased as a result of the first audioconference in particular and led to some interesting off-line questions and discussions.
Extremely valid topic for our students, given our locality. Having experts is powerful. The students enjoyed the virtual learning environment and gained skills in cooperation and collaboration. The opportunities to actually be in many of these places is too cost prohibitive, so this provides an authentic learning environment.
The values of respecting one another by listening to each other was important (and able to be reinforced by the field trip context). Applying the principle of learning to learn independently and collaborating information in groups proved to be an asset for managing self and relating to others.
Great content and contexts. A novel approach and a way to bring other voice into my classroom that has great authenticity. Fits well with the specific Learning Objectives for the Disaster unit taught in the Social Studies curriculum.
Childern learnt a lot about geohazards in NZ, other than just earthquakes. So easy to incorporate into the programme; can 'take' children to parts of NZ that we are too far away from; can access any time after the trip begins; has good range of material that engages children eg photos and videos and background pages...
The field trip helped to make the content very relevant and allowed the students to feel like they were getting first hand experience.
My class were hooked and the videos were great as they helped my kids understand geohazards better (visual). The class are now planning their next steps 'how to prepare'. I will use LEARNZ again as it provides interesting topics that affect my class and ensures they develop their own thinking/questions to explore (what now? what next?). Also oportunities for research, reading and exploring non fiction texts, science case and effect.
Helped make content relevant to my Year 10 students. Great for the visual learners!
Pitched to range of levels - many students are visual learners so the videos and photo gallery are especially useful. Ability to revisit info and to pace themselves as they read through the background notes is also good.
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.
Contributes to learning objective for both Earth and Space Science L2 internal and external assessment. Helped as part of the inquiry process with student-led learning. Good opportunity for managing self.
This field trip catered for many learners - with videos and photos to support the learning, it is not all reading. And with the readings being able to be listened to, it allows many lower readers to be involved in the content.
Up-to-date, relevant, interesting and provides a great framework for computer assisted research while at the same time students are developing social and cooperative skills. Particularly useful as we were specifically looking at Tsunami. Information is culturally relevant and there is a wide range of resources so all learners in my class can achieve, accomplish something.
Our topic this term is actually civil defence and I used this field trip as motivation. Living on the lower slopes of Mt Taranaki the volcano parts were our particular focus and as my class are year 2-4 we used the fabulous videos and the photos in the gallery. The class have gained a huge understanding even from what we have used. There was a lot of information they could access with a little guidance, and they really enjoyed it. It was also easily accessed by the special needs children with their teacher aides.
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.
... brought the curriculum to life. Opened the eyes of the class to all the interesting things going on around them.
Excellent resource that can be picked up by all students or just one who wants to delve into an area at a greater intensity. Self regulated, great background to an area of interest.
Students gained through the Science strand - Nature of Science - How scientists work.
Learnz field trips allow the students to develop all of the key competencies, principals and values of the NZ curriculum, and complements an innovative learning environment. This Geohazards field trip was very relevant and at an appropriate level for our year 7 and 8 students.
It was perfect. Another tool in a teacher's basket of learning activities. It put into a familiar context (we live in the Bay) the material we were learning about. Relevant visuals and they loved the ambassador, as did all our students even the big year 12 students!
The lessons and resources targeted the students learning needs while challenging their thinking. It supported my kids' knowledge, future learners, sharing of information and becoming 21st century learners ... connected learners.
The students now have an increased sense of responsibility and citizenship regarding Geohazards, especially as I was able to completely integrate the learning into my reading and writing programme. The resources are amazing and so perfect because they are about N.Z. and show how scientists work.