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

The trip encouraged a great deal of thinking, with students participating in discussions where they could develop empathy for others in disaster situations. They were able to do lots of reading and writing in a meaningful context.
Tied the emergency drills that we practice in the school into a wide context. It supported the learning we were doing in class.
The resources were excellent for research and reading tasks, and we learnt the importance of being prepared as we practiced our earthquake drills. Everything supported our unit of inquiry about natural disasters specific to New Zealand and my students valued being able to speak to experts in the field.
Linked to emergency procedures practised during the year. Online, current, and relevant to curriculum.
All of my students, including Maori Pasifika and ESOL, have good understandings as a result of the LEARNZ What's the plan, Stan field trip. It was helpful having experts answer inquiry questions my student had, and videos helped certain students gain a deeper understanding.
LEARNZ supports all areas of NZC - a wonderful resource!
Timely reminder of our readiness for an emergency, also tied in our fire drill with the field trip. Gives students access to experts without having to go anywhere, particularly beneficial for our small isolated Y1-8 school.
Engagement levels were very high, and they were keen to know more following the video conferences, even though we were watching them after they were recorded. The field trip enabled me to support learners with barriers to their learning, e.g. reading, and enabled the class to continue to develop their self-directed/guided learning style.
Most children went home and planned emergency supplies and procedures. We integrated reading, mapping, videos, discussing, writing, maths, presenting ideas, as well as health and safety procedures. We had a lot of fun.
I used it as part of my independent learning and group reading sessions. This field trip showed the children how they can be managing their own safety.
A great resource for reading and inquiry. Students really enjoy the reading and activities.
Allowed us look at geology as well as Civil Defence. Appropriate and effective.
Very effective, especially for those students who had the ability to engage in the audio conferences and ask their own questions. This was a great way to immerse my class in lots of information and to initiate lots of discussion. Thank you!
Fitted with our science unit, values of looking after others, and furthered competencies such as speaking and listening and communicating using written language.
Children engaged with this resource and were excited to learn about disasters in this way. Background pages were a great support to the children's learning as they were easy to use as an independent or group or whole class activity, especially with two reading levels and with the read-aloud option.
This was effective, interesting and aimed at the students' ability, with interesting quizzes too. Students learned a lot and they enjoyed the videos, which generated a lot of discussion. It was good not to be the one imparting the information, to have experts explain how things happen.
Motivating and interesting for my Year 4 class. Audio conferences great. They also especially enjoyed the videos and the ability to have text read to them was really helpful.
It was like second nature to this term's inquiry and fitted like a glove. It was leveled and delivered at an excellent level and the content was perfect for my Year 8 class.
This field trip linked in really well with our Science Inquiry and the real world nature of the field trip, which the children felt connected to and motivated them to self-direct their learning and go further. I have had excellent learning from my children from the LEARNZ Virtual Field Trips. I think they are fantastic.
Fantastic resource that our class really enjoyed once again. Thank you. Great planning guide. Easy to use and informative.
The material was relevant to my students, who could cover as much or as little as they were able to complete. With this field trip I had one able learner supporting a less able learner and they both produced some great work.
It led to a combination of other tasks including preparing their own households in the event of a disaster, getting to know their neighbourhood and even who can assist in times of need. Children can explore the information independently, challenge their understanding with the quizzes and then be encouraged to follow-up with related tasks and websites.
It was great to have real-life experiences recounted and for students to be able to communicate with scientists. The "What's the Plan, Stan?" topic was relevant, and seeing the conference call made students even more interested.
Explanations were clear and my classroom were buzzing all week about the content. Students were keen to research and find out more information, they also spoke to their families about emergency plans and kits at home. Awesome fit for our school inquiry "Keeping myself Safe and Healthy".
At Year 2 level, fire drills, earthquake drills etc need more context, and this field trip provided that. This field trip helped students to become engaged in society by having a better understanding of how good citizens understand and prepare for disasters.