You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
ShakeOut
It helped with critical thinking, managing personal plans and responsibility in a disaster. A great way to have a different teaching medium with other experts to answer questions and supply information.
The content was very appropriate as they were able to relate it to their own experiences, having experienced a 5.8 earthquake the night before. The audioconference was an excellent opportunity to focus on asking quality questions with a purpose and to interact with experts.
The field trip connected the students to issues about earthquakes in a practical way. It was also great to connect with children who have been in earthquakes - this gave a realism and reality to the trip. Andrew (the LEARNZ Teacher) is marvellous - he really helps to ignite curiosity in the students.
It was good to have a child's perspective in the videos and background pages were good science information. The field trip enabled and empowered students to have an understanding of others' experiences and the impact these experiences have on themselves and the world in which they live.
The field trip allowed children to think deeply about emergencies, which was relevant to what we were learning in class about preparing an emergency plan. It was real life experiences from children to children which was great and the children were engaged because it was with other learners at their level.
Enjoyable to hear first hand accounts - made it more real for the children.
It supported the Shakeout event we were participating in. It also supported the curriculum well. Visuals are excellent and information is current. The videos led to good discussions and recall of prior knowledge.
Relevant to topic at school and it was all current. Great tool.
This field trip was a short mini-unit to prepare students for the national shake out drill and was in addition to our School Curriculum plan.
LEARNZ is doing a brilliant job and this is a fantastic resource for all teachers and students. Excellent contextual learning, and made really good links to the NZC. I loved how there was appropriate Māori and Pasifika language included to support our learners, while the inclusion of both easy and more difficult support materials allows for differentiation.
We had been involved in the Geohazards VFT so the children were well briefed and ready to take part in ShakeOut. The class really looks forward to taking part in the LEARNZ trips.
We are a sole charge school of 12 students and I was able to adapt the content to suit all levels within my class. This was our first live field trip and the students really enjoyed it and got a lot from it. There were lots of comments over the week about how 'cool' and 'fun' it was.
My Yr 5&6 class were very engaged with this field trip. The information was easy to access for the students who find reading difficult (great to have an NZ voice reading the background pages), but there was enough for my high achieving students as well. The live audio conferences were very useful - next time we will definitely put ourselves down for a speaking school role!
Great to follow this field trip while preparing for Shake Out on Thursday. Engaging way of learning for students. Lots of great information given and the opportunity to ask questions of experts.
Brilliant! It was my first time but it was a great way to get detailed information from an expert, live. The children in my class were asking loads of questions relating to answers given, which gave them lots of things to think about! The field trip related to "Participating and Contributing", as all my children got involved in thinking about their own emergency kits and some said they needed to get one.
The field trip was a great lead in to the Shake Out drill earlier today and complimented our topic on civil defence. Related well to Science - Natural disasters as well as civil defence and emergency management.
Smart Motorways
The class found it effective as the resources invited collaboration and discussion. It was a new context that demonstrated science in action. Learning areas could all be linked and the key competency of self management was explored.
My son has a keen interest in engineering and this was a fantastic opportunity to go behind the scenes of motorway infrastructure and find out how a smart motorway works. He found the videos very interesting, particularly the one about construction and planning.
We were able to relate this situation to those we know more about in Auckland. As our topic for the year is responding to challenges, we were able to see how this is being effected in the area of transport.
Appreciate the personal interest taken by the (LEARNZ) teachers to get our school on-board and recognized. It really opened up a field that is related to real life. Broadens our experiences and much cheaper than an onsite visit, although the latter is not to be overlooked. Some sites are not accessible to general public.
The students were motivated by the fact that this was real time learning about a new technology in NZ. Helped to inspire the students into inquiry based projects related to our term's concept of 'Movement'.
Covers real life examples for the maths learning area. The field trip encourages independence and enterprise and promotes confidence. It also allows learners to collaborate and work in a group.
We are studying Structures and Smart Motorways tied in well with our schoolwide topic. The field trip made the children think at a deeper level and apply knowledge gained to other areas of the curriculum. The activities and videos supported the context well. The children enjoyed sharing what they had learned on the Field Trip with their families at home.
The smart motorway is a great example of looking at significant issues, with a Future Focus, that involve our citizens and how the problem of traffic is being tackled globally. It was great to have the activity sheets to record our thinking while we were listening to the audio conference.
Kea
Other than learning about our environment, we also used it in our creative writing unit.
We are currently studying adaptations and how animals/birds suit their habitat so the Kea was a great case study. I find the newsletters great - very detailed and a great prompt in the lead-up to field trips.
It was wonderful having a bird students already had contact with to focus our inquiry skills of research, communication and self-regulation. There is an excellent balance of texts and photos which can be related to all the learning needs in my class. The field trip was so relevant and the format easy to use.
Found the SOLO based questions for the videos useful for guiding students, really helping slow starters and students less engaged in science. The activities and quizes were also useful for year 10 science.
My students learned heaps about kea and the amazing people working with them. Students love these virtual field trips which provide for different levels of learning at the same time. We asked questions, did shared and independent reading, did shared and independent topic writing, art, technology, poetry and incorporated measurement and mapwork into this study topic.
It inspired the children to wonder more deeply about the topic and made it 'real' for them going on the field trip. As a first-time user I received fantastic support to have my class connect with Shelly and the scientist to have our questions answered - the whole class was extremely excited about this.
This trip was most effective in supporting the theme of 'Kaitiakitanga' for my Year 4 class. The programme supports modern learning approaches very well and combined fabulously with SOLO. The children all loved it and it has really inspired them to want to learn - they were keen to get on the computers each morning to catch up with the latest happenings.
Term one we studied ' Birds of NZ' - this field trip gave us the chance to revisit knowledge and add to it. Students felt actively involved. It also links well to the values, key competencies, learning areas, and principles of NZC
Students thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about the Kea. Information was appropriate for their age.
The students were excited to actually be a part of the field trip at Arthur's Pass. Parents were very impressed with the kids (on the video). Students were motivated to go to the website in school time and in their own time. It was a good example of how sharing learning in a real context is powerful for students.
We have a strong interest in native birds at our school and this field trip fits in with the value "ecological sustainability" and the "future focus" principle. I've used it as a science context but also as a high-interest and friendly reading and viewing resource.
Genuine interest was shown by students and a high level of engagement. This field trip fully supported NZC in so many ways - probably much easier to list the ways it did not support the curriculum.
The whole class decided that having access to the experts was invaluable (via the audioconferences), and we wouldn't have that access otherwise. Great way of engaging the children and having them learn about our natural environment. Hugely motivating for the children, able to be integrated into all aspects of the curriculum.
Awesome field trip - students loved the videos, taking part in the audio conference etc. Really like how the background reading pages have an audio file - great for my ESOL students and for supporting students at different reading levels.
Hugely effective in that everything we wanted the students to do was covered by you in an engaging and motivating way. We covered most areas of the curriculum, as well as fostered a new understanding of what 'virtual' actually means!
The children learned lots and looked forward each day to seeing and hearing what had happened - kind of like the next chapter in a book! The trip was really well planned and organised and supported the children through the inquiry process fabulously. It ticked all the boxes and more. Thanks.
Geohazards
Used for Science/Geography/Earth sciences - natural disasters as well as Maths/Science - data collection and interpretation.
Virtual Great Walker
Students were really interested in the content which we used as part of our weekly reading programme and to support digital literacy. We also set it up for independent learning so students could gain self-management skills.
Opera
The children really enjoyed this unit, as there was lots of awesome information relevant to them putting on our school production next term. I will use LEARNZ again because I love the field trips!
Love your Rubbish
The field trip supported our study on the Environment and Sustainability and also worked in well with our Zero Waste Education study on Composting. Students were given an insight into landfills and recycling, and the activities gave the students a lot to think about.
Waterview Connection
Served to show the variety of options available as an engineer and that there is a requirement for qualifications. Reinforced science, maths and English as important subjects.
The field trip generated a lot of relevant questions and fitted in with the science, technology and english topics that we are covering. The field trip provided access to an area of interest and at a level of expertise that I would not be able to provide any other way. The online support section was comprehensive and the introduction to the fieldtrip on Adobe Connect was informative and well run.
Promoted coherence in our school as teachers of physics, Maths, Careers and Techology worked together with groups of Year 10 students to focus on Engineering as a future career. Watching the videos and engaging with the material gave the students a real live experience which left them talking about the tunnel afterwards.
With our school close by to where the concrete is being made, all the children connected with it a some level. A perfect tool for using in the modern digital classroom both in its digital components and because of its very hands on approach. Great support and service from the Learnz team during the build up to being a part of the audio conference.
We have been viewing the videos from the second field trip and children have been totally engrossed. It is something that is happening very close to our school and the planning of the Waterview School playground is also relevant to us.
It supported and extended our current social studies/science (engineering) curriculum areas. The opportunity to go back and view videos again was very useful for my son.