Testimonials

Kauri is one of our taonga, and this field trip supported our role as tangata whenua and kaitiaki. A great resource and easy to use with the class who learnt so much about the kauri and the disease affecting it.

Engaging and relevant. My tamariki loved learning about the kauri. The field trip allowed them to engage with and utilise the learning we were doing in the classroom.

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.

Hearing from experts is fantastic from a multi-layer perspective - from learning about future careers (scientists, DOC rangers, visitor centre staff) to the significance of the kauri to NZ was excellent. The (bilingual class) children really enjoyed hearing guest speakers present in Te Reo, present their mihi and hear first hand how important the kauri was and is to them.

Ties in so well with the guiding principles - Education for sustainability, Treaty of Waitangi etc. My Year 4 children were engaged and able to relate this field trip to our term concept of Turangawaewae. Content interesting and informative. Well presented as usual by Andrew with passion. Children with different learning styles are well catered for and my special needs children are also keen to engage in this type of online learning.

We learnt things that were directly related to our topic of kaitiakitanga and sustainability. It is great to have the background information, videos and photographs that support a NZ topic.

We used this field trip to help us cover our Deep Learning Topic of Past and Present. it was very helpful in many aspects as we also wanted a science based focus in this area. The activities and background pages were useful for self management.

As an introduction to the the topic, this was based at an ideal level. Students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were able to share new learning. Questions gave them a focus and they were directed to information that helped them build understanding. The programme is set up in such a way that all students were able to participate. The way it is formatted into sections removes barriers for students who would otherwise have found it difficult. Awesome way of extending understanding and knowledge about our country.

We live in a geothermal area so its relevance to our community makes this field trip appropriate. The field trips are a shared social experience that provides the opportunity for students to encounter and explore novel things in an authentic New Zealand setting.

Enables chn to get experience of environments they may otherwise not get and interact with real scientists. Special needs pupils enjoyed the computer simulations. Maori pupils appreciate the Maori explanations of geo happenings.

My class will be studying the 1931 Napier Earthquake, so the background pages and activities were very useful for the Natural processes aspect. Other supplementary information was interesting and slighty connected to our topic. My class use online activities to supplement their book class work. A virtual learning experience is very engaging for students. It is also useful for them to revisit the recorded trip when revising for the exam. My students don't get many opportunities to go on actual field trips, this is the next best thing. Relevant.