You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
I find the teacher support section very helpful and have never thought, "I wish they had this here". Students were able to read and understand the easy background information and were able to discuss the ideas put forward, then form evacuation plans for school and home.
Motivating and interesting for my Year 4 class. Audio conferences great. They also especially enjoyed the videos and the ability to have text read to them was really helpful.
The amount of information my students learn in these mini units is impressive and they generally retain more knowledge this way. Thanks for all the effort you put in. Saves on my planning too.
It was like second nature to this term's inquiry and fitted like a glove. It was leveled and delivered at an excellent level and the content was perfect for my Year 8 class.
The children love tuning in live and this really motivates them. We had been on the LEARNZ Kaikōura earthquakes trip earlier in the year and this was a great follow up.
Explanations were clear and my classroom were buzzing all week about the content. Students were keen to research and find out more information, they also spoke to their families about emergency plans and kits at home. Awesome fit for our school inquiry "Keeping myself Safe and Healthy".
The material was relevant to my students, who could cover as much or as little as they were able to complete. With this field trip I had one able learner supporting a less able learner and they both produced some great work.
It led to a combination of other tasks including preparing their own households in the event of a disaster, getting to know their neighbourhood and even who can assist in times of need. Children can explore the information independently, challenge their understanding with the quizzes and then be encouraged to follow-up with related tasks and websites.
It worked in well with the nationwide earthquake drill and made students think about how to deal with different emergencies. Everything came into the Key Competencies, Health and PE curriculum, and our values at school.
It was a good starting unit for our term theme of survival and sustainability. The web site structure allowed them to take ownership of their learning and explore. Overall, it was a good way for students to hear from an expert and gain knowledge and insight.
Timely reminder of our readiness for an emergency, also tied in our fire drill with the field trip. Gives students access to experts without having to go anywhere, particularly beneficial for our small isolated Y1-8 school.
At Year 2 level, fire drills, earthquake drills etc need more context, and this field trip provided that. This field trip helped students to become engaged in society by having a better understanding of how good citizens understand and prepare for disasters.
Activities (interactive) are great. Visiting places and discussing in short (video) clips are useful. Students had information at a variety of levels and had access to an expert, allowing teacher to become facilitator.
Very useful for convincing children that we really do need to prepare for a disaster. Being an e-learning class, we made a disaster plan for our own family. The variety of content is more engaging than normal classroom activities, and this helps to motivate priority learners.
Very effective not only because of its relevance to the area we live in but also because it enables students to think critically and develop connections within our community. Using LEARNZ trips encourages me to leverage digitally into other areas of my teaching.
A great resource for reading and inquiry. Students really enjoy the reading and activities.
This is a fantastic resource for all as there is a lot of information compiled into a number of units. We are ever so grateful for the hard work put into making LEARNZ virtual field trips.
The field trip really helped the children to think and plan ahead what they would do to keep safe in an emergency. The videos linked to disasters that could happen in our area.
The children were engaged and enjoyed having their questions answered in real time. All the background material with links to NZC was fantastic and we could weave this in to our reading, writing, health and science learning.
We were involved in the Nationwide 'Shake it Out' and this added value to the day. LEARNZ is a 'one stop shop' for me - it means I do not have to spend hours surfing on the internet to support my learning programmes.
The subject was national and we localised it by making a plan for our schools which we shared with the whole community. The key competency of 'managing self' is very relevant here and the activities and videos were great.
The fieldtrip background pages allowed my Year 8 class of very diverse abilities to engage at their various levels - at least a quarter of the class really appreciated the audio text! It was also a great opportunity for my students to integrate inquiry learning into our course.
LEARNZ virtual fieldtrips are incredibly engaging. There is plenty of supportive material, the experts are effective communicators with a wealth of knowledge, and the experience really gets the children buzzing! Thanks for everything you do!
Linked very well with our school ShakeOut focus. Great for building Participating and Contributing, and Self-Management in students. Good design in that I can pick-and-choose what is useful for my class.
The students loved Stan the dog and the way he acted out in the video. This held the younger viewers interest, but also reinforced the learning points. It made online learning very purposeful, more than just a research or processing tool. Talking to someone in Auckland from Picton was very powerful and engaging for learners.