You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Another valuable and appropriate topic from the LEARNZ team, as we knew very little beforehand about wetlands and their importance. LEARNZ is an excellent education tool.
Utilised the focus on te reo and cultural-history aspect of biodiversity. Students enjoyed the field trip as part of our ecology topic -they engaged well with the learning and were willing to contribute.
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).
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.
Great to see and hear interaction and questions from students of other schools, which set high expectations for my class with questioning. The support material is excellent and students are able to connect with Science community in real contexts.
The trips are well planned and resourced - especially with the use of field experts, and provide a wealth of material students can use to aid their studies. The multi-level pitch of these field trips makes them suitable for a range of ability levels, and they can be self-paced.
Comprehensive resources in a local context. My Year 10 student gains: posting a question to an expert, literacy from background reading.
Science is an area we are trying to strengthen and this was a perfect opportunity to put the students in a real life context or study. The students were really engaged in the topic. I am looking forward to sharing with my students both the Antarctic and ANZAC Memorial Park trips. Both are topics we were already studying.
Students have learned so much and they have become overnight advocates for wetlands. The LEARNZ programme really enhanced the pronunciation of Maori place names, values and importance of early Maori traditions to our lives today.
Students valued the inclusion of speakers who related the land and resources to an earlier style of living on the land by Maori, in pre-European times.
The field trip supported all of the Key Competencies, attitudes and values of the NZ Curriculum, and our own school Curriculum.
Provides an interactive online learning website that is safe and relevant to the student's needs and interests, in regards to protecting NZ's wildlife and environment. Māori dictionary and glossary is provided and the relevance to the past use of wetlands to Māori shows respect for their ancestors and the future of NZ.
It is such a great resource as all the background research has been completed for teachers and we can rely on it as being factual with the experts involved. Having a face to experts is really important for children. Videos were also most useful for a Y2 & 3 class. We are using it as a context for our Inquiry and this topic complimented our topic as it was local to our school.
Watching the students get excited about their role (we were a speaking school, which was a breeze) and then watching them make connections in their learning, has been a real highlight. They built connections with the area the trip took us to and linked it to our local community and loved connecting what they were reading and hearing with specific people.
This field trip has helped me to step out of the classroom and look at what is on our doorstep. It is great for the children to learn about authentic contexts.
Students appreciate information from different, up to date sources and they can work at their pace. Allowed for differentiated learning. Good photos.
Many of my students found the Māori Tikanga section the most interesting. I also liked that the learning was rewindable and allowed for student agency. The opportunity to experience a virtual field trip really excited the children and motivated them to want to find out more, as it provided a meaningful and authentic learning context that included SOLO and built on our own 'Freshwater Frolicking' field trip to The Groynes.
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 is appropriate for anyone!! We had every level in our primary school- year 0-6 participating this year. It was amazing! We will use LEARNZ again because of the ignition that happens for the kids. Motivational, fun, a way for kids to take their learning home. Loved the quick responses I got from your team when I did participate in the online help.
We used the field trip as an alternative programme for our advanced readers. The students who undertook this field trip were engaged and interested in the content. We were able to select background information and activities that were suitable, yet challenging enough for our students. The use of video, with the ability to replay and revisit parts to gain a greater understanding, was helpful. They had very little knowledge prior to the 'trip', but demonstrated a great understanding afterwards.
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.
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.
Our school curriculum focuses on the environment and having outside experts present information is a fantastic way to extend my students' learning and knowledge.
It was very relevant as we visited our own local Maungatautari wetland, so it was great to compare.
It was a great learning experience that is still going as an inquiry! I love the interacting that occurs between the LEARNZ teacher and the children. The activities are very child friendly and engaging. The language was able to be learnt and the videos were fantastic to clarify anything. I love the use of Maori words throughout.