You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
This field trip most definitely supported our students in becoming lifelong learners, who develop skills and strategies for real-life situations. Everything is well-researched and my Year 6-8 students and I particularly enjoy the presentation of the video clips.
The students loved Stan the dog and the way he acted out in the video. This held the younger viewers interest, but also reinforced the learning points. It made online learning very purposeful, more than just a research or processing tool. Talking to someone in Auckland from Picton was very powerful and engaging for learners.
Our students are manly visual learners so through watching the videos they were able to sustain attention longer and retain more information. Also every activity in the field trip, I believe, has in some way reflected the Key Competencies and Values in the Curriculum.
It was a good starting unit for our term theme of survival and sustainability. The web site structure allowed them to take ownership of their learning and explore. Overall, it was a good way for students to hear from an expert and gain knowledge and insight.
Learnz virtual field trips are an integral part of our programme - students look forward to each one. What's the Plan, Stan? led to research around a range of topics - particularly in response to Web Conferences. Special needs students can access ALL aspects of the tour. Maori students are able to add context and their own ideas and understanding, from talks by representatives of local iwi.
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.
My multi-levelled students thoroughly enjoyed participating in watching the movies and learning through accessing the background pages and quizzes. LEARNZ is a great package of information and up to date footage, that makes usage and planning of the unit very easy for me as a teacher.
The children were engaged and enjoyed having their questions answered in real time. All the background material with links to NZC was fantastic and we could weave this in to our reading, writing, health and science learning.
Fitted in well with our civil defence week. Engaged the students. Have recommended to colleagues and our whole team will use this next year.
Very effective not only because of its relevance to the area we live in but also because it enables students to think critically and develop connections within our community. Using LEARNZ trips encourages me to leverage digitally into other areas of my teaching.
I found the easy background pages appropriate for most students and the ability to have the text read to them was really helpful. Motivating and interesting - my Year 4 students especially enjoyed the videos.
LEARNZ supports all areas of NZC - a wonderful resource!
Direct connection to what we were studying in our syndicate, all resources in one place, real people and real context helped engage the children in the learning. All resources are New Zealand appropriate and very suitable for my Year 5&6 class. I felt very supported with instant responses to the emails I sent.
LEARNZ virtual fieldtrips are incredibly engaging. There is plenty of supportive material, the experts are effective communicators with a wealth of knowledge, and the experience really gets the children buzzing! Thanks for everything you do!
The field trips cater for a number of learning styles providing visual, written and audio information. I love using Learnz with my class. Thank you for providing this fabulous resource.
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.
I adapted it to be useful for my Year One class. I concentrated on How to keep ourselves safe during Earthquakes and Tsunamis. It assisted my delivery of interesting authentic material for my students.
We gained valuable information from the experts. We practised 'Managing Self' while completing the web conference task sheets.
It supported teaching about the principles and values of the NZC for this group of 5-10 year old students, who are a part of the school's environmental team. It has been a driver for these students to form connections with those experts in our community who can support their projects, such as biosecurity officers at the regional council and local iwi.
For my NZ students currently living overseas, it was most effective in raising their awareness of fauna back home and actions some people have taken to help kerer.
Great. We used it to plan our own Kereru Count field trip.
The students love the fact that the website format doesn't change from field trip to field trip. When you have chosen the 'right' field trip, there is an increase in student agency. As we live in an area where there are plenty of Kereru, this field trip was very appropriate in the leadup to the Great Kereru Count.
My students were very engaged in the kererū topic and enjoyed learning about something they could see in their own environment. It aligned with our theme/values this term of tangata whenua - kaitiakitanga. The web site encouraged independent learning and I was also able to use it to enhance our reading and writing programme.
As I am retiring, I want to thank you for providing this service which I have used for the last 6 years at two different schools.
This trip was real science in action and my students had buy-in from the start. The videos and real life experiences are very beneficial to the children's learning, opening their eyes to the wider world and I love the way the field trips incorporate aspects of Maori culture and beliefs.