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

The unit was an excellent opportunity to integrate the Principles, Values, Key Competencies across a range of curriculum areas within authentic learning situations. The students really enjoy the online learning resources, especially the audio conferences.
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 was a very REAL and engaging focus for a lot of different interest groups. Use of the Audio conferences was a first and was very impactful for the students.
Students love them (LEARNZ field trips) - they are engaging, use real life contexts which have an impact on students' lives, encourage whanau involvement. Fabulous resource.
Led to better engagement and met the learning towards taumata 5 tikanga ā-iwi marau in the TMOA. Outcomes for my kura were evident and supported our kura value system or mātāpono, kaitiakitanga (guardianship of our earth mother Papatuānuku) and rangatiratanga (self-determination that comes from our own actions).
The 'real-time' trip increased motivation for students and hooked them into their learning. The virtual relationship with Shelley was a highlight. A class visit from David Wallace, who visited Antarctica in 2012, reinforced all the students had seen and inquired about through LEARNZ.
You do a great job of preparing and motivating us to engage with the topic. Well structured for all students. Even low achieving readers well engaged. Covered science, values, aspirations and career information.
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.
This field trip has been the highlight of the year for all the students. Amazing enthusiasm from the whole school.
It made the students aware of the value of the work done in Antarctica, both in the past and in the present, more effectively than just reading about it.
WOW, what a powerful learning tool the Audio Conference was - our extension Year 3-4 students were so engaged in listening and learning that they didn't make a sound.
My students have a different view of the world we live in after this field trip. My students love the field trips.
The field trip supported the development of Key Competencies, and provided up-to-date information relevant to Education for Sustainability.
Rather than just researching independently about Antarctica, the students enjoyed having a variety of tools at their fingertips. The mixture of videos, photos, quiz etc kept students interested and being able to listen to the information rather than having to read it is highly beneficial.
The field trip was very effective, especially from the view point of engagement and motivation as the students felt it was relevant and real.
It has been one of the best units I have taught in my 16 years of teaching - I would recommend it to anyone. I do think that it has been particularly successful in my classroom because we signed up for the extras such as the ambassador and the audio conferencing - that's what really made it come alive for me and the children in my class.
Provided real meaning and connections to topical subjects like global warming. There was a high level of interest about Antarctica from the students.
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.
We used the Inquiry method to study Antarctica and we loved it! Shelley's videos created lots for discussion. Brilliant!
Excellent source of information for the students, aimed at their level, well presented and easy for the students to access and work with. Students found it extremely interesting and they learnt plenty of new things about Antarctica.
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.
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.
It was a great way to learn about people places and animals without actually being there.
Children loved every part of the experience- thoroughly engaging. Really cool for the students to be able to participate with a group outside of their immediate context!
This unit linked with our topic of sustainability and enabled cross curricular learning in a digital context. This type of learning resource helps students to work at their level, irrespective of where they start and their reading ability.