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

Great resource with a variety of media. Very comprehensive, providing students with another layer of learning material connected to real world around them.
My Year 7 & 8 students found the field trip very engaging and effective for many reasons eg. extending knowledge, developing inquiry skills, digital technology. It also covered science and social science well, and variously incorporated the Principles, Values, and Key Competencies of the NZC.
This field trip was very appropriate for my Year 4 class as we used it under the theme of Kaitiakitanga. I feel the effectiveness (of the virtual field trip) can be gauged by the involvement and the questions asked by the children, and this Antarctica study has really had them enthused and doing independent research of their own. It is fascinating to discover how much knowledge the children take home and discuss with their families.
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.
It was great to have people there in real time - it connected the students to the context. It was fantastic where they could type questions to the experts even though they didn't have a speaking role.
For my Year 4 class enjoyed the learning experience. The virtual field trip raised their awareness of how special and unique Antarctica is and made them think about being the guardians of the area.
Real life engagement with scientists on ice was interesting - great for students to see what we had been studying in real life.
Students said it was great because it simulated going to Antartica and it was awesome seeing (our ambassador) BuzzBee there. It was easy to set up my programme using Google classroom so students and their families could see what was happening whenever they wanted.
The students became very curious about Antarctica. They couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next and were so upset if we didn’t watch everything first thing in the morning.
The LEARNZ virtual journey to Antarctica was great because EOTC is not possible in Antarctica for a school classroom to do for real. The opportunity to hear real scientists talk to the LEARNZ representative, Shelley Hersy, was very valuable and also helped us form some of our science goals.
We loved the field trip! Thanks so much for all that you do. It is such an engaging way to connect with various areas of the curriculum.
The LEARNZ personnel and experts feel like real friends or students' own personal teacher, which helps to make the learning experiences very potent. They field trips like Antarctica are great and I just love the work you all do to make them interesting and engaging. Thank you.
My Year 7-10 students can access the field trip whenever needed, not necessarily during the trip. Relevant topic. Students keen to learn more about Antarctica.
The audio conversations were brilliantly done along with the accompanying videos, plus questions being typed and answered while online. I have been intrigued and surprised by how much my young students have taken on board during the trip.
The field trip supported the development of Key Competencies, and provided up-to-date information relevant to Education for Sustainability.
Very effective, especially the videos. Fantastic with much of the planning done for the time-poor teacher. This field trip is fully supportive of Principles, Key values and Competencies as well as learning areas of our curriculum, thanks.
It definitely ticked the boxes. A great topic. We enjoyed all that was on offer.
Listening to someone who was there reinforced how close we are to Antarctica and viewing the videos diaries really focused the students into the whole experience. The readings and activities made students manage their time appropriately.
All students (Year 8, Levels 2-5) were able to access and make sense of the content. Antarctica fitted perfectly with our concept study of 'Environments'. It was our first experience and we will be back for more.
Provided real meaning and connections to topical subjects like global warming. There was a high level of interest about Antarctica from the students.
We integrated the learning across all curriculum areas, which was easily done. All my students enjoy learning in this way and the background reading was perfect for my Year 4 class.
The trips like Antarctica are fantastic. It enables all children no matter what ethnicity or socioeconomic group to explore the world. My teaching practice has been transformed as LEARNZ allows me to present learning with a digital approach, using multiple computers and devices and guiding students in combination with Google Classroom.
The unit was an excellent opportunity to integrate the Principles, Values, Key Competencies across a range of curriculum areas within authentic learning situations. The students really enjoy the online learning resources, especially the audio conferences.
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.