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

We linked this topic to our class Māori studies so the Māori children felt the significance of the Kauri to all. The field trip inspired the class, expert on topic made class listen more, audio conferening was a new skill and helped their questioning skills. Class logged on at home to look at resources. Thought ambassador traveling with you was fun. Keen to read next diary.
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.
LEARNZ adds a rich IT experience to the class learning, that relates to local topics and utilises local expertise very well.
My students from this field trip are now very connected to kauri, that four weeks ago was just another native tree. Very powerful to have online learning with experts. Made a national taonga come alive and made kauri dieback real, relevant and contextual. Brings in elements of Nature of Science and the Social Science curriculum.
The field trip was yet another way to utilise the tools in our digital classroom. My recommendation to colleagues is this resource, while valuable when it links to current teaching and learning, has also proven to be excellent for use with smaller groups to extend critical thinking and learning linked to a real context.
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.
It is visual, relevant, easy to access, and makes good use of technology to be virtually there. Very relevant and topical in Northland.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Related to our personal environment, local issues, and experiences at camp. Very relevant to developing a MLE and BYOD environment. Combined literacy, science, social science. Andrew (the LEARNZ Teacher) was friendly, engaging, and related well to students and experts.
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.
The kids get really engaged with what they are learning about. Because it is real the kids really respond to it. We can make links to what is happening around our area, also.
Contributes to learning objective for both Earth and Space Science L2 internal and external assessment. Helped as part of the inquiry process with student-led learning. Good opportunity for managing self.
The videos and background material on the Alpine Fault were useful to the students in their studies of Achievement Standard 1.1 - extreme natural events.
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.
... brought the curriculum to life. Opened the eyes of the class to all the interesting things going on around them.
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.
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.
It gave real life situations to our study. My Maori student liked the fact that the list of geothermal (Ngawha) terms were able to be related to the study. The videos were great - most enjoyable. Students gained skills in note taking as well as knowledge which they later used to write a report on the Tarawera eruption. We are going to the buried village for a class trip so the children are very excited about what they will see.
Excellent resource that can be picked up by all students or just one who wants to delve into an area at a greater intensity. Self regulated, great background to an area of interest.
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.