You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Totally appropriate for my Y3&4 class, with the children being very engaged with their learning. Love the videos and photos which make the content accessible to all children, no matter their reading ability.
It is a great platform for the children to engage with their parents about what they are learning, in this case to get families to talk about how to be prepared. The children love seeing real people in real time. They engage with the learning but also relate it to the people on screen as if they are their friends.
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.
It got the class thinking deeply about the actualaties that would happen, particularly in our area of Porirua, even though the field trip was based in Auckland. The class enjoyed being part of a New Zealand-wide group during the audio conferences.
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.
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.
Tied the emergency drills that we practice in the school into a wide context. It supported the learning we were doing in class.
Linked to emergency procedures practised during the year. Online, current, and relevant to curriculum.
Connects with studets' wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau, and communities. Another vehicle that can be used to engage students with like-thinking students across the motu.
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.
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.
Allowed us look at geology as well as Civil Defence. Appropriate and effective.
Participation helped students to learn to work together as a team, so they were able to formulate appropriate questions to put to the experts. Really created an awareness of the need to have an emergency plan.
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.
Field trips like these help build connected, lifelong, sustainable learners.
The amount of information my students learn in these mini units is impressive and they generally retain more knowledge this way. Thanks for all the effort you put in. Saves on my planning too.
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!
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.
The children love tuning in live and this really motivates them. We had been on the LEARNZ Kaikōura earthquakes trip earlier in the year and this was a great follow up.
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.
Fitted with our science unit, values of looking after others, and furthered competencies such as speaking and listening and communicating using written language.
I find the teacher support section very helpful and have never thought, "I wish they had this here". Students were able to read and understand the easy background information and were able to discuss the ideas put forward, then form evacuation plans for school and home.
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.
Fantastic resource that our class really enjoyed once again. Thank you. Great planning guide. Easy to use and informative.
It worked in well with the nationwide earthquake drill and made students think about how to deal with different emergencies. Everything came into the Key Competencies, Health and PE curriculum, and our values at school.