You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Testimonials
Kea
Found the SOLO based questions for the videos useful for guiding students, really helping slow starters and students less engaged in science. The activities and quizes were also useful for year 10 science.
Lucy Meagher from Havelock North High School
It was wonderful having a bird students already had contact with to focus our inquiry skills of research, communication and self-regulation. There is an excellent balance of texts and photos which can be related to all the learning needs in my class. The field trip was so relevant and the format easy to use.
Deborah Lamont from Methven School
We are currently studying adaptations and how animals/birds suit their habitat so the Kea was a great case study. I find the newsletters great - very detailed and a great prompt in the lead-up to field trips.
Brenda Town from Town Family Home School
The whole class decided that having access to the experts was invaluable (via the audioconferences), and we wouldn't have that access otherwise. Great way of engaging the children and having them learn about our natural environment. Hugely motivating for the children, able to be integrated into all aspects of the curriculum.
Joanne Mortimer from Weston School
Genuine interest was shown by students and a high level of engagement. This field trip fully supported NZC in so many ways - probably much easier to list the ways it did not support the curriculum.
Graham Elsmore from Christian Renewal School
We have a strong interest in native birds at our school and this field trip fits in with the value "ecological sustainability" and the "future focus" principle. I've used it as a science context but also as a high-interest and friendly reading and viewing resource.
Jane Pearson from Hira School
The students were excited to actually be a part of the field trip at Arthur's Pass. Parents were very impressed with the kids (on the video). Students were motivated to go to the website in school time and in their own time. It was a good example of how sharing learning in a real context is powerful for students.
Lee Martin from Karoro School
Other than learning about our environment, we also used it in our creative writing unit.
Jason Shaw from Geraldine High School
Smart Motorways
The smart motorway is a great example of looking at significant issues, with a Future Focus, that involve our citizens and how the problem of traffic is being tackled globally. It was great to have the activity sheets to record our thinking while we were listening to the audio conference.
Maria Church from Bellevue School Newlands
It was an engaging way to up skill students by involving them in an audio conference and getting their parents to complete a public survey. It was also a great way to understand changes occurring to our local motorway.
Elizabeth Cranney from Miramar Christian School
Students followed the technological process by looking at the different roles of the people and the components of the smart motorway, and related these to its purpose. Thank you - the whole resource was able to be used and made into differentiated activities for my students.
Vicki Karetai from Brooklyn School Motueka
We are studying Structures and Smart Motorways tied in well with our schoolwide topic. The field trip made the children think at a deeper level and apply knowledge gained to other areas of the curriculum. The activities and videos supported the context well. The children enjoyed sharing what they had learned on the Field Trip with their families at home.
Natalie Looney from Fitzroy School
The children loved this field trip. We integrated it into our reading programme where we focussed on the reading strategies of: Summarisation, Synthesising, Making Connections, Inference. The structure of the field trips makes my life easy as far as planning goes. The fact that the children can log on at home is great. The parents love logging on and listening to the audio conferences.
Jan Thompson from Banks Avenue School
Covers real life examples for the maths learning area. The field trip encourages independence and enterprise and promotes confidence. It also allows learners to collaborate and work in a group.
Rakesh Prakash from Alfriston College
The brilliant thing about this field trip is that it used a wide variety of media to hook the students in. One student even said "I didn't know that motorways were so interesting". There was something for every style of learning and all Key Competencies came into play as students worked together and individually to complete components of this field trip.
Cherie Norman from Rosehill School
Traffic in Auckland is a big part of our lives so my boys could relate to this topic in real life. The background pages, pictures and videos held their attention. My boys enjoyed the smart motorways trip - they learned so much.
Hannelie van der Linde from Van der Linde Family Home School
The class found it effective as the resources invited collaboration and discussion. It was a new context that demonstrated science in action. Learning areas could all be linked and the key competency of self management was explored.
Jacob Plummer from Tauranga Intermediate
The students were motivated by the fact that this was real time learning about a new technology in NZ. Helped to inspire the students into inquiry based projects related to our term's concept of 'Movement'.
Philippa Williams from Pukekohe Hill School
Appreciate the personal interest taken by the (LEARNZ) teachers to get our school on-board and recognized. It really opened up a field that is related to real life. Broadens our experiences and much cheaper than an onsite visit, although the latter is not to be overlooked. Some sites are not accessible to general public.
Elmer Breed from Wellington SDA School
We were able to relate this situation to those we know more about in Auckland. As our topic for the year is responding to challenges, we were able to see how this is being effected in the area of transport.
Suzanne Parkinson from Parnell School
My son has a keen interest in engineering and this was a fantastic opportunity to go behind the scenes of motorway infrastructure and find out how a smart motorway works. He found the videos very interesting, particularly the one about construction and planning.
Brenda Town from Town Family Home School
Opera
Allows the students to go beyond their own back door and extend their learning to other areas and experiences that may not be available otherwise. Encouraged the Arts and English curriculum areas and I have noticed my children listening to different music during class time.
Davina Ripohau-Derecourt from Kerikeri Primary School
This field trip fitted in with the Arts Curriculum perfectly. I used the background information to teach the children about Opera and its place in NZ culture.
Lois Pettigrew from North Loburn School
The students learned so much more than I thought - they were engaged when seeing students their own age asking deep questions. We are looking at creating our own movies and seeing the interviews with cast and crew helped to focus their ideas and find realistic goals.
Sharon Riley from Ruapotaka School
This field trip tied in perfectly with our own school production and really got the ideas and understanding flowing. The videos kept the kids attention and sparked their interest for more.
Teresa Jones from Kaponga School