You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
People and Water
Allowed students to access information they would have struggled to find themselves and inspired independent study on questions students raised. This is an excellent multimedia resource with differentiated learning that supports an inclusive curriculum.
We used the videos to connect with our conceptual learning topic of sharing our world. Appropriate and effective.
Appropriate and effective, especially for Kaitiakitanga. Students particularly liked looking and watching the updates.
Rail Safety
Brought NZC alive e.g. "Participating and contributing" to create questions, as well as "Relating to others" by practising asking questions of experts. A sense of community and commitment extended from class group to wider world. Extended student view of He Waka Eke Noa.
Ahuahu Great Mercury Island
We got some great deep learning happening and it brought up a lot of questions from the students. During the learning there was a lot of reference to language as well as values; both the NZC ones and our own school ones.
It put tikanga Maori into a real-life situation. Videos were especially interesting. Good way of showing how kaupapa Maori ways relate to modern conservationist thinking in NZ.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the field trip to Ahuahu Great Mercury Island. Although it was a virtual trip, the concept of interacting with real people, animals and landscape made it seem very real and helped them to connect their learning. Sending an ambassador was awesome for the students too! Principles, Values, Key Competencies and Learning Areas of the NZ Curriculum were all very well supported in the field trip.
Matariki and Navigation
My students loved it - it sparked lots of independent learning and sharing learning with whānau about Matariki. We fully participated in the web conferences, both as a listening class and as a speaking class.
It fitted in exactly with what we are studying, and my students really responded well to hearing information from different people and in different ways. The web conferences were particularly empowering and transforming for my four dyslexic learners, as their questions were chosen as "best and deepest".
Loved it! I have used LEARNZ field trips before but not with an ambassador, which just made it! This field trip was also incredibly empowering for our Maori and Pasifika learners!
In the web conferences, I find the guest speakers and hearing the other schools' questions makes our learning authentic and relateable.
All aspects outlined in the planning for this field trip were easy to connect to the NZ Curriculum documentation. The newsletters were informative and useful, but I also found what I needed in the online help. My students have already asked when our next LEARNZ trip will be.
The class were motivated and excited by the learning, as the field trip gave students the opportunity to strengthen their own identity and cultural connections/ whakapapa. In addition, I tried new ICT aspects linked to the field trip and explored the concepts of 'Cultural Narratives' and 'Social Mapping'.
Totally appropriate as we have spent the term focussing on our origins and how our ancestors reached NZ. For the Māori children, in particular, the story of Kupe was perfect.
Trips like this are great because all of the students can access the material, not just the capable readers, as so much of the content is video based. Being able to access the material after the event is also great.
This field trip allowed my students to engage with Matariki in a new and interesting way. My students used all the key competencies and were given complete responsibility for sharing their new knowledge; we ended up with 2 raps, a play, a pop-up book and a speech. It was awesome.
This field trip is a great experience and learning for students and teachers alike. It caters particularly well to the High Expectation, Inclusion, Cultural diversity and Treaty of Waitangi Principles. All students have access to the knowledge offered by the audio option, and learning of Te Reo words, history and culturally different points of view are being taught.
BioBlitz
Supported all of the KC's, the Nature of Science and the science capabilities.
In this virtual field trip, the students studied creatures while learning about the concepts of biodiversity and conservation so we built our Inquiry around native animals. We decided to go to the Groynes and check out creatures there. We also looked at the wildlife at Willowbank.
Helped my teaching practice, as this BioBlitz field trip was a helpful tool to differentiate my teaching. Students enjoy a different form of lesson delivery, too.
The content was pitched perfectly for Year 7 & 8 tamariki. As part of our unit of inquiry based around ecosystems & biodiversity, there were strong curriculum links. The word bank helped build our te reo Māori too.
Map my Waahi
Because of the secondary timetable, I found it more useful for me (than my class) as PD on how to include digital ideas into the classroom. We did create a digital map in the last lesson of term so the field trip inspired me to have a go at something new with my class.
It was great that our students had access to real people; students from other schools and experts. We were most interested in the pepeha sections but used the web conferences (live and replay), the videos, and the activities on the web site.
Unpacking the apple story
It was really effective. I had some brilliant writing, especially from my Maori and Pasifika students as they knew so much about the topic. Good for reading and maths and also relevant for Science Fair and for our Enviro groups.
As a school our Inquiry was Biosecurity. This was a fantastic resource for the class. The content of the field trip made it accessible for all members of the class; they were all able to experience it.