You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Kea
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.
Graham Elsmore from Christian Renewal School
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.
Jane Pearson from Hira School
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.
Lee Martin from Karoro School
Other than learning about our environment, we also used it in our creative writing unit.
Jason Shaw from Geraldine High School
Students thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about the Kea. Information was appropriate for their age.
Susan Dane from Elm Park School
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
Helen Gibson from Hilltop School
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.
Pamela McDowell from Westbrook School
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.
Elizabeth Faithful from St Clair School
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.
Jacob Plummer from Tauranga Intermediate
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'.
Philippa Williams from Pukekohe Hill School
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.
Elmer Breed from Wellington SDA School
It was an engaging way to up skill students by involving them in an audio conference and getting their parents to complete a public survey. It was also a great way to understand changes occurring to our local motorway.
Elizabeth Cranney from Miramar Christian School
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.
Suzanne Parkinson from Parnell School
Students followed the technological process by looking at the different roles of the people and the components of the smart motorway, and related these to its purpose. Thank you - the whole resource was able to be used and made into differentiated activities for my students.
Vicki Karetai from Brooklyn School Motueka
The children loved this field trip. We integrated it into our reading programme where we focussed on the reading strategies of: Summarisation, Synthesising, Making Connections, Inference. The structure of the field trips makes my life easy as far as planning goes. The fact that the children can log on at home is great. The parents love logging on and listening to the audio conferences.
Jan Thompson from Banks Avenue School
The brilliant thing about this field trip is that it used a wide variety of media to hook the students in. One student even said "I didn't know that motorways were so interesting". There was something for every style of learning and all Key Competencies came into play as students worked together and individually to complete components of this field trip.
Cherie Norman from Rosehill School
Traffic in Auckland is a big part of our lives so my boys could relate to this topic in real life. The background pages, pictures and videos held their attention. My boys enjoyed the smart motorways trip - they learned so much.
Hannelie van der Linde from Van der Linde Family Home School
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.
Brenda Town from Town Family Home School
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.
Maria Church from Bellevue School Newlands
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.
Natalie Looney from Fitzroy School
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.
Rakesh Prakash from Alfriston College
Opera
Every time I have used a LEARNZ field trip with my class, the students have absolutely relished the chance to explore something outside of their realm of experience. We are focussing on the performing arts (Music, Dance, Drama) in class/school - this field trip helped to expose them to the combination of these arts areas, and all the efforts that go into putting on a show of this type and size.
Maria Galbraith from Summerland Primary School
This term's topic is wearable arts, so the field trip was a perfect immersion into the world of performance and costuming. It was useful for increasing interest in the world and performing arts, and I was able to use the information and interactive questions as an effective reading activity, which I then used as a prompt for writing.
Sherilyn Hall from Dyer Street School
My online (distance) class was focussing on a topic about creativity this term so the Opera Trip was a great complement to this. LEARNZ trips offer rich, pertinent learning about the place we live in.
Robina Smythe from Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu
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!
Gemma Forde from St Theresa's School Invercargill