You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand

Interactive, engaging and highly motivating. Helps create partnership between home and school as students are extremely keen to share the field trip experiences with their parents.
This field trip was very appropriate for my Year 4 class as we used it under the theme of Kaitiakitanga. I feel the effectiveness (of the virtual field trip) can be gauged by the involvement and the questions asked by the children, and this Antarctica study has really had them enthused and doing independent research of their own. It is fascinating to discover how much knowledge the children take home and discuss with their families.
Fantastic links to the science curriculum AOs - lots of learning due high interest and combination of videos and great background information. Learnz is real world and happening at the moment. Where else can you get this sort of access to scientists and researchers?
This was an amazing way to make the learning come alive for our study of Antarctica. Very effective - personalised the learning.
Students were highly engaged, especially by the videos and photos of our ambassador. Students who need extra support with literacy really appreciated the easy to read background material.
For my Year 4 class enjoyed the learning experience. The virtual field trip raised their awareness of how special and unique Antarctica is and made them think about being the guardians of the area.
It motivated my top reading group. It was well organised, informative and something different to use as a reading tool/experience.
Very appropriate for Year 5/6 students, who loved the 'real' experience. Covers lots of the curriculum areas, from reading groups to individual programmes with students who have special needs. Web site means students can follow up at home and share with family what they have learnt.
This was so engaging for our class. This is a great way to bring science alive in the classroom and it led to so many discussions.
The LEARNZ virtual journey to Antarctica was great because EOTC is not possible in Antarctica for a school classroom to do for real. The opportunity to hear real scientists talk to the LEARNZ representative, Shelley Hersy, was very valuable and also helped us form some of our science goals.
My class of all boys love the LEARNZ background readings and activities; their non-fiction reading levels have all improved. They like the fact that they can work at their level and at their own pace. They all love science and anything (like LEARNZ) that helps develop their understanding of how our world works.
Really enjoyed it! Lots learnt! Very effective - more so for the older kids but what my young enjoyed most was the diaries.
Excellent presentation and a great learning experience for the students. Students really enjoyed a different approach to learning and it was good that the weaker readers were able to participate.
The field trip supported the development of Key Competencies, and provided up-to-date information relevant to Education for Sustainability.
LEARNZ is a great way to study a topic using a medium that is accessible to all, even my low vision student and those with poor reading skills. The Antarctica field trip supported the science and social studies areas of the curriculum and much more, such as the key competencies.
My Year 7 & 8 students found the field trip very engaging and effective for many reasons eg. extending knowledge, developing inquiry skills, digital technology. It also covered science and social science well, and variously incorporated the Principles, Values, and Key Competencies of the NZC.
Provided real meaning and connections to topical subjects like global warming. There was a high level of interest about Antarctica from the students.
Students became very curious with lots of wonderings about Antarctica and they decided that science is really cool. The field trip made for fun learning and helped us use the i-pads and laptops more effectively for independent research.
It was in line with our learning focus for this year of being a fully digital classroom. Online help was all good.
It was great to have people there in real time - it connected the students to the context. It was fantastic where they could type questions to the experts even though they didn't have a speaking role.
The audio conversations were brilliantly done along with the accompanying videos, plus questions being typed and answered while online. I have been intrigued and surprised by how much my young students have taken on board during the trip.
I run the GATE programme and we do Future Problem Solving so the ecological sustainability was particularly relevant. A great teaching tool which is motivating for students.
Very effective, especially the videos. Fantastic with much of the planning done for the time-poor teacher. This field trip is fully supportive of Principles, Key values and Competencies as well as learning areas of our curriculum, thanks.
My curriculum focus was supported fully by the LEARNZ Antarctica programme and two NIWA scientists visiting the class in person helped no end to endorse what we had learned. Some students were able to really drive their own learning, while having the two levels for reading enabled some of my less able readers to participate more fully.
Catered to the needs of all students. Tasks were easily differentiated for all curriculum levels. Great opportunity for students to make connections with the wider community.