You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Kauri
It is a highly motivating tool for learning. Children were highly engaged about kauri and continue to have discussions about their learning. Saves me as a teacher a lot of time as almost all of the planning and preparing is done for me. Great to be able to "call on the expert" from my classroom. Makes learning very accessible.
Karen Buchanan from Whakamarama School
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.
Lisa Ward from Victory Primary School
Activities that went with the videos were fantastic.
Christopher Gore from Wellsford School
My students enjoyed it and learnt so much. They were inspired and did their own projects on kauri dieback. They learnt to do inquiry learning. They enjoyed the videos and doing the activities to test their knowledge.
Julia Kippen from St Mark's School (Pakuranga)
My class always enjoys the Learnz Field Trips, regardless of the trip we enrol in. The LEARNZ teachers are so enthusiastic, it really teaches the children things that I can't.
Louise Parker from Twyford School
It has benefited all akonga (that includes me). We knew nothing about kauri dieback disease until this field trip. Really relevant to us in Northland.
Jacqueline McGlasson from Dargaville Primary School
Fun, engaging, easy to use once you get your head around it all, kids love it, lots of different technology options. Some great info to challenge gifted and talented learners. Great to see the inclusion of Maori vocab.
Megan van Leeuwen from Oaklands School
I used a lot of independent learning time using the background pages which promoted managing self. Also promotes community engagement, future focused thinking. It is well integrated across the curriculum and supports a range of learning types.
Kate Cvitanovich from Nelson Intermediate
Engaging and can be tailored to the specific needs of a small group of students. Uses all of the Key Competencies. Enabled students to self regulate their learning.
Patricia Patten from Oaklands School
Children really enjoyed learning about kauri dieback. We participated in all three web conferences and I am pleasantly suprised at how much the children learned. The field trip links well to the Key Competencies as well as our school values, and was inclusive of all cultures.
Tosca Parata from Kenakena School
I like that we can do the work live, or delay it to suit our needs, and either way not miss out on any of the content. It helped the children to further understand the need to value our natural environment and how easy it is for us to lose a taonga through lack of awareness or willingness to contribute. This topic also increased their cultural awareness.
Cathy Norris from Norris Home School
My 31 mixed-ability children were completely engaged in our study. It was such an authentic context for us, as we are a silver enviroschool and we have three kauri at our school that we are learning to protect. Was great for the children to see real science in action; they were very interested in the laboratory work.
Lynn Douglas from St Francis Xavier Catholic School Whangarei
Set at a great level for year 7 and 8 students. A lot of the planning has been organised for you. Great learning experience. Majority of students loved the topic and the quality of the work completed was outstanding.
Paul Hammond from Greytown School
As an Enviro school it is wonderful to be interfacing with experts in the field on real issues in real time. Some of my students go onto Learnz to explore further as additional home learning. Great to hear them educating their parents about what's happening to our mighty taonga, Kauri. LEARNZ is the most marvellous educational resource for NZ teachers. This is my 14th year with Learnz and I get great great support if I need it. The staff are truly amazing at every level.
Susan Hodge from Elm Park School
It was a really good way for students to learn about NZ and what's happening currently and in a manner that they could choose how they participated; some were more independent and others more supported.
Mary-Ann Bailey from St Peter's College (Palmerston North)
There is so much in a LEARNZ field trip that it is possible to pick and choose what is most suitable for each class. There is so much motivating stuff to choose from for supporting reading, writing, inquiry, oral language, etc. I like the way that Te Reo is incorporated - this really supports Te Reo in my class.
Leone Baylis from Fairburn School
Geohazards
Formed the basis of an introduction to AS90952 - Demonstrate understanding of the formation of surface features in New Zealand. Curiosity increased as a result of the first audioconference in particular and led to some interesting off-line questions and discussions.
Christopher Manuel from Westland High School
The ability to use archived material from previous trips is wonderful. Teachers can encourage interested pupils to use the materials for homework reading - the videos, photos, diaries and related activities are treasure troves for curious students with a passion for knowing more about a particular topic.
Susan Hodge from Elm Park School
The field trip supported both our social sciences and science learning areas. The students loved the real life content and particularly enjoyed the audio conferences. I like the fact that we can revist the fieldtrip resources throughout our learning unit ... which will come in handy when the students need to research a natural disaster that may occur in our area (Nelson) and how to prepare for it.
Denise Lee from Waimea Intermediate School
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.
Gabriel Hawke from St Mary's School (Hastings)
Great content and contexts. A novel approach and a way to bring other voice into my classroom that has great authenticity. Fits well with the specific Learning Objectives for the Disaster unit taught in the Social Studies curriculum.
Kieran Collier from Freyberg High School
Very appropriate for my multi level and age class. Well supported. The field trip enabled learners to gain knowledge in aspects of geology which they then used in writing and oral language. Students were highly engaged. Excellent resource!
Sarah Leonard from Sherenden and Districts School
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.
Jeremy Hogue from St Gerard's School (Alexandra)
The field trip helped to make the content very relevant and allowed the students to feel like they were getting first hand experience.
Adrienne Kockott from Glendowie College
The values of respecting one another by listening to each other was important (and able to be reinforced by the field trip context). Applying the principle of learning to learn independently and collaborating information in groups proved to be an asset for managing self and relating to others.
Seuga Frost from Ohau School