You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
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.
Complemented the Key Competencies like self-management and organisation in terms of thinking about your own situation, talking to family about advanced planning etc.
It is a great platform for the children to engage with their parents about what they are learning, in this case to get families to talk about how to be prepared. The children love seeing real people in real time. They engage with the learning but also relate it to the people on screen as if they are their friends.
It got the class thinking deeply about the actualaties that would happen, particularly in our area of Porirua, even though the field trip was based in Auckland. The class enjoyed being part of a New Zealand-wide group during the audio conferences.
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.
I always enjoy the LEARNZ Field Trips. They enhance my teaching.
The trip encouraged a great deal of thinking, with students participating in discussions where they could develop empathy for others in disaster situations. They were able to do lots of reading and writing in a meaningful context.
Tied the emergency drills that we practice in the school into a wide context. It supported the learning we were doing in class.
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 background material was appropriate for my class and we asked a question in the live web conference, which was well answered.
Linked to emergency procedures practised during the year. Online, current, and relevant to curriculum.
This trip was extremely uselful as our inquiry in Term Four is "Keeping Ourselves Safe". Insights from the experts were particularly effective for my class.
All of my students, including Maori Pasifika and ESOL, have good understandings as a result of the LEARNZ What's the plan, Stan field trip. It was helpful having experts answer inquiry questions my student had, and videos helped certain students gain a deeper understanding.
My class enjoyed the little videos and learnt heaps about earthquakes. Linked well to managing self and community. It involves the children with things outside the classroom - connects them to real life NZ.
A LEARNZ field trip is such a great motivator. The visuals meant that all students could participate in this field trip during ShakeOut.
Engagement levels were very high, and they were keen to know more following the video conferences, even though we were watching them after they were recorded. The field trip enabled me to support learners with barriers to their learning, e.g. reading, and enabled the class to continue to develop their self-directed/guided learning style.
Most children went home and planned emergency supplies and procedures. We integrated reading, mapping, videos, discussing, writing, maths, presenting ideas, as well as health and safety procedures. We had a lot of fun.
It helped students to see the key competencies in action in a real life situation outside of the classroom.
It supported teaching about the principles and values of the NZC for this group of 5-10 year old students, who are a part of the school's environmental team. It has been a driver for these students to form connections with those experts in our community who can support their projects, such as biosecurity officers at the regional council and local iwi.
For my NZ students currently living overseas, it was most effective in raising their awareness of fauna back home and actions some people have taken to help kerer.
Great. We used it to plan our own Kereru Count field trip.
The students love the fact that the website format doesn't change from field trip to field trip. When you have chosen the 'right' field trip, there is an increase in student agency. As we live in an area where there are plenty of Kereru, this field trip was very appropriate in the leadup to the Great Kereru Count.
My students were very engaged in the kererū topic and enjoyed learning about something they could see in their own environment. It aligned with our theme/values this term of tangata whenua - kaitiakitanga. The web site encouraged independent learning and I was also able to use it to enhance our reading and writing programme.
As I am retiring, I want to thank you for providing this service which I have used for the last 6 years at two different schools.
This trip was real science in action and my students had buy-in from the start. The videos and real life experiences are very beneficial to the children's learning, opening their eyes to the wider world and I love the way the field trips incorporate aspects of Maori culture and beliefs.