You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
Love your Rubbish
This field trip was well pitched to my class level,informative and kept the students engaged. The field trip and its sustainability theme supports all learning areas of the curriculum especially science and social studies.
Kauri
... upon completion and reflection the most impact was on the areas of our Key Competencies. Absolutely without a doubt the field trip supported the true essence of our NZC. The children became kauri experts and were keen to cometogether as the Kauri Class and learn. It promoted true collaboration and it was thoroughly enjoyable for both the children and myself.
Related to our personal environment, local issues, and experiences at camp. Very relevant to developing a MLE and BYOD environment. Combined literacy, science, social science. Andrew (the LEARNZ Teacher) was friendly, engaging, and related well to students and experts.
It illustrated clearly community engagement, ecological sustainability, participating and contributing. Students were interested. It also helped in the Nature of Science ... seeing how the community can work with the scientists on an issue.
Owing to time constraints with other curriculum areas, I sadly did not get an opportunity to use this wonderful resource with my class. I will be using it retrospectively however.
High Country
Useful for itroduction of new technologies used in Geography, visual interpretation. Also useful for self directed learning and independence. I have always found LEARNZ field trips a useful tool to back up and extend in school learning. Now retired, I would like to thank the team for your enthusiasm and professional learning.
Our focus was Social Sciences Geography and it certainly gave us some future focus discussion points. I also wanted to open their eyes to some possibilities re the use of technology and future careers.
Yes the topic was good, interesting etc, linked to the human uses of the environment for 2.1 Geography and was generally interesting to students; drones are very in! So it is a great way to engage students, use technology and get students enthused about Geography.
Being able to connect with real people is very meaningful for students. The drones, satellites, pests, and mapping areas became focus areas for the class and they have continued inquiring about these.
My year 7 and 8 students have really engaged with the trip material. Thank you for providing such an interesting resource. A lot of my students like to spend time in the bush and were keen to learn more about the application of technology in this area.
In the backchannel it was really interesting to have our questions answered during an audioconference when we weren't a speaking school. This was a Maths group involved in this trip, so it was ideal for providing authenticity to their Maths, alongside the natural integration with all other areas of the curriculum.
The audio conferences were particularly helpful for our students. As a whanau hub we have been working on aspects of flight and transitioning into digital platforms. This has assisted us to transition our students.
An invaluable insight into the use of technology in the outside world. It gives students another resource for gathering information from experts in particular fields.
The video clips of the drone in action was a major success. This put the whole subject in perspective. Because of the novelty of the subject the student engagement was exceptional and they gained skills in elearning as we used the iPads to read and study the background pages.
My class enjoyed reading the information and watching the videos, especially the drones.
Geohazards
Students gained through the Science strand - Nature of Science - How scientists work.
Excellent resource that can be picked up by all students or just one who wants to delve into an area at a greater intensity. Self regulated, great background to an area of interest.
Was at the right level and linked in really well with our Inquiry / science focus of natural disasters - "What's the plan stan?" Good platform to teach the nature of science.
The lessons and resources targeted the students learning needs while challenging their thinking. It supported my kids' knowledge, future learners, sharing of information and becoming 21st century learners ... connected learners.
... brought the curriculum to life. Opened the eyes of the class to all the interesting things going on around them.
Contributes to learning objective for both Earth and Space Science L2 internal and external assessment. Helped as part of the inquiry process with student-led learning. Good opportunity for managing self.
The values of respecting one another by listening to each other was important (and able to be reinforced by the field trip context). Applying the principle of learning to learn independently and collaborating information in groups proved to be an asset for managing self and relating to others.
Very appropriate for my multi level and age class. Well supported. The field trip enabled learners to gain knowledge in aspects of geology which they then used in writing and oral language. Students were highly engaged. Excellent resource!
The field trip supported both our social sciences and science learning areas. The students loved the real life content and particularly enjoyed the audio conferences. I like the fact that we can revist the fieldtrip resources throughout our learning unit ... which will come in handy when the students need to research a natural disaster that may occur in our area (Nelson) and how to prepare for it.
Totally in line with our Disasters topic. Worked well with the Key Competencies we aligned with our unit. Backchannel was great for the class next door.
The class had just completed an Earth Science unit and this VFT (Virtual Field Trip) was like the icing on the cake. I am not aware of a more effective and powerful learning medium. The Key Competency of Thinking by constructing questions to put to experts during Audioconferences was most effective.
Wetland Biodiversity
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.
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.
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.
Our school curriculum focuses on the environment and having outside experts present information is a fantastic way to extend my students' learning and knowledge.
Wonderfully appropriate. Supported our science focus very well, as well as the key competencies of self management, relating to others (sharing tablets, working together) and texts (reading and responding to the information).
It supported excellence, high expectations, learning to learn, diversity and environmental sustainability, as well as the NZC level 4. It ticked all our Level 4 boxes. Great resource. My class can't wait to use it again.
Students got to continue to learn about the environment (following on from involvement in the Virtual Great Walks field trip). The detail and facts included in the background pages made things more interesting to read (or listen to!).
Very purposeful learning. Supported our bi-cultural focus. Supported different learning styles. Found it very easy to incorporate into our long term plan and to integrate across learning areas.
Memorial Park
A LEARNZ trip has great relevance - it is NZ based, which I like, as this is our students' real world context. Te Ao Maori is often included ... giving validity to the voice of our Maori students in a positive way
Students are continuously thinking and evaluating information they are reading or viewing. They are self managing their learning and using technology to enhance it.
Linked to Social Sciences and linked well with build up to Anzac unit.
Kids were amazed at the thought and influence of soldiers' personal journeys that were included in the design and symbolism in the park. Making connections with schools and viewing questions and listening to responses was great. Kids enjoyed learning about what the experts did to enable the park building project to work.
This field trip will really emphasise to students that memorials and remembering are an essential human condition, and that the Anzac Day commemoration is nationwide. We plan to visit local memorials and attend our local service to tie in with Anzac Day.
The theme of this field trip fits in with WW100 for this year. This field trip helped students develop an understanding of how an entire community gets behind a project like Memorial Park. It also encouraged students to think about what happens in our own community.
Very relevant for the upcoming Anzac celebrations due to take place. The children were engaged and it linked in well with the other activities we were doing during the end of the term.
The audio conferences and videos were amazing. Perfect for my class. We had all Year 8's do it together and they loved it. My class are already asking about the next one.
The timing was good. We all want to see it (Pukeahu National War Memorial Park) if we go to Wellington. It was a really good way to learn about Memorial Park. The videos were a good length and gave us a different perspective of the construction. The website was really easy to use and didn't go off to other topics. It was level appropriate.
Virtual Great Walker
From the start of the trip, the students were actively engaged - making connections with their own lives and new information they were receiving - even our hunters were interested! Throughout this year we are looking at environmental issues and what we can do to help - as individuals and as a school. This field trip aligned with this nicely.
We connected this field trip with an older one - Restoring the Kepler. By doing this, students began to look at ways that they can contribute in the wider community as well as our school community, working towards a common goal. Maori students in the class particularly liked the glossary - we also added more to our own one on the wall.
Students are focussed and engaged. They have a purpose. "This is fun, I didn't know you can learn like this". During camp we studied the native birds and plants and compared them to the field trip. A great effort went into using our thinking skills to prepare for camp and doing the research.
It was an excellent insight into exploring a new area that not a lot of children had visited before. The children came up with a lot of great questions, especially around saving native birds and the effect of a beach mast this year.
Great for extension group. Broad range of materials for reading and writing.
It was a great support for the Virtual Great Walkers competition, that we have entered in. Lots of helpful information that covered all areas. Valuable resource.
Students said about the live audioconferences: "We got to talk to real people who are actually there" and "We get to ask questions and they actually listened to us". This field trip enabled my students of different academic abilities to all access the same information in a number of different ways, which led to great discussion and debate about aspects of physical activity and conservation.