You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Wetland Biodiversity
Key competencies were all addressed through the use of this field trip and it was easy use the material to differentiate for different learners. The LEARNZ trips are motivating for students and supporting for teachers. They are broad enough to use as the basis for many Inquiry topics and versatile enough to use over a long or short period.
Leone Baylis from Fairburn School
We used it as part of immersion for starting off on our journey of restoring a Wetland. It prompted questions, wonderings and enhanced their interest. Being able to send along an Ambassador was fantastic as it helped the younger members of our Wetlands group relate to what was happening.
Jillian Hodgson from Shotover Primary School
The videos make it easy for all students to access and understand what is happening. Material was accessible for different learning styles. Students really enjoyed it, they were able to ask questions and get answers, it encouraged deeper critical thinking and students worked cooperatively to learn.
Shelley Galloway from Mt Somers Springburn School
Our Inquiry was Sustainability this term and students really got into the field trip. It was a spectacular way for students to practice the Key competencies and meet people online they would otherwise have no access to.
Karen Blatchford from Tai Tapu School
Thank you, this was fantastic for my class. It worked well with our topic. Children were able to undertake this independently and were able to answer the questions after watching the videos.
Kirsty White from Grantlea Downs School
Student engagement in LEARNZ field trips is always high - they had also recently visited a local wetland. The knowledge students gain from listening to experts, developing questions, reading and viewing the videos and diaries is compelling learning! Highly motivating for students and teacher workload is reduced!
Lynn Burrell from Tangowahine School
Used to support digital devices in science at high school and an opportunity to experience the South Island. Some videos included Maori content - used as a role model for students. Pronunciation of Maori place names helped me as a teacher, as I try to improve and utilise Te Reo in the science class.
Lucy Meagher from Havelock North High School
You bring the outside world to us! Boys especially are absorbed by the videos and discussions with scientists - you help turn them on to learning. The field trip helped us connect and participate with our community and is making science real and meaningful.
Jennifer Kitchin from Weston School
It provided further background for our ecology unit and class trip work. The field trip was appropriate for my class studying the wetland biome in New Zealand and we would use more of the resources next time, but this was a good beginning, looking at the videos and the photos.
Joanne Eason from Cathedral Grammar School
Love the SOLO Taxonomy integration - that is the kind of thing we love! Great model for us of how to use such tools. The field trip was part of our Wonderful Wetlands term focus. We also went for an afternoon to Travis Wetlands in Christchurch. Good contrast of virtual and hands on. LEARNZ gives access to environments and experts that are pure quality.
Megan Feller from Elmwood Normal School
Real life visuals and information were very specific and had a greater impact on my students and myself then scrolling through unlimited amounts of information via search engines. It supported my students learning with in-depth knowledge on worldwide topics from within New Zealand. Learnz caters for all learning needs. Totally appropriate.
Nick Sakaria from Finlayson Park School
It is an amazing opportunity for the students to able to experience natural NZ. As this is our first virtual field trip we are busy exploring and familiarising ourselves with the website and using it as a warm up for Kauri (the next field trip).
Leane Barry from Glen Innes School
Very motivating. Students were engaged.
Gillian Taylor from Cockle Bay School
The children were fascinated by the virtual field trip videos. They learnt a lot of new ideas and words and talked about it for days. The field trip was effective as it showed our students that other people did what we do.
Frances Grover from Te Mahia School
Ability to have contact with scientists and other experts provides an authentic learning experience. We were able to learn about other wetlands and compare them to our local wetlands. Great background information and resources. Thank you!
Sonjia Campbell from Mercury Bay Area School
Project Crimson
Many of our reading and writing strategies and progressions were able to be met by the field trip, as well as integrating our topic studies. I also used the diary readings as a shared reading activity, which was great. Students recorded questions throughout the audio conferences and we posted them in the Ask an Expert forum. Shelley responded that evening and we were able to integrate that into the classroom programme the next day. The students loved seeing their personal questions answered.
Nichola-Marie Hunt from Coastal Taranaki School
It matched our concept for the term 'Our Place' - the way we interact with living things affects our place. We will use LEARNZ again because it motivates the students, information is at your fingertips, it has well informed experts and it's lots of fun.
Patricia Harrison from Titirangi School
It is a great way to learn. Students are made aware of important conservation issues in a fun way. The various activities cover a variety of learning styles.The topics can often be linked to local communities.
Caroline Arnold from Lepperton School
The students found the videos and photos to be very interesting. They developed their knowledge of pest threats in NZ and also developed a positive attitude to how they can help with campaigns like Project Crimson & Living Legends. LEARNZ is an excellent programme.
Philip Lightbourne from Kairanga School
They are well planned and provide us with a link to experts and sites we would not usually visit. Excellent for developing literacy and numeracy in a purposeful context.
Douglas Drysdale from Bunnythorpe School
It complements my classroom programme and provides fantastic learning opportunities undercover of ICT.
Deborah Young from Bamford School
Great to learn about our New Zealand icons. I always enjoy Learnz and have been using it for the last 6 or 7 years because it is an absolute gem to all teachers and students.
Daniele Cuthbert from Edgecumbe School
I find the field trips a great way of introducing vocab and scientific language to students. As well as teaching inquiry skills and science knowledge students are reading for information and engaging with text, video and audio information to present findings.
Stuart Cooke from Methven School
It was perfect for exploring our theme - Bounce Back / Adapt. My students loved talking to an expert.
Emma Watts from Upper Moutere School
Kids Restore the Kepler
The activities suited cooperative work. The māori perspective was relevant throughout. We loved the vocab lists on each background activity. Again learning in a real context for the children - of all abilities and cultures makes it truly meaningful.
Paulien Gray from Otonga School