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

This field trip is a great experience and learning for students and teachers alike. It caters particularly well to the High Expectation, Inclusion, Cultural diversity and Treaty of Waitangi Principles. All students have access to the knowledge offered by the audio option, and learning of Te Reo words, history and culturally different points of view are being taught.
Good background and build-up to Matariki. Prompted cultural awareness and discussions.
This field trip allowed my students to engage with Matariki in a new and interesting way. My students used all the key competencies and were given complete responsibility for sharing their new knowledge; we ended up with 2 raps, a play, a pop-up book and a speech. It was awesome.
Appropriate as my class was investigating this topic. This is another way to connect my students' learning to a wider community and it let my students see that other kids ask similar questions.
I could quickly look at background and ideas and use those suitable for my Year 2 class. Great for English (use sources of information e.g. videos, to identify form and express ideas), Science (PEB - Astronomical Systems - Matariki) and Social Studies (How the past is important to people | How places are significant to people).
Trips like this are great because all of the students can access the material, not just the capable readers, as so much of the content is video based. Being able to access the material after the event is also great.
It integrated well with the NZ Curriculum i.e. Thinking, Managing self, Relating to others, Participating and contributing, High expectations, Treaty of Waitangi, and Future focus.
Totally appropriate as we have spent the term focussing on our origins and how our ancestors reached NZ. For the Māori children, in particular, the story of Kupe was perfect.
This field trip lent itself so naturally to exploring space in a NZ context. Students loved learning about our sky & our history as navigators.This was powerful for my Māori learners as it showed sophistication they were not previously aware of.
The website fitted perfectly with our current learning about Matariki and the field trip was very engaging. It helped encourage the students to be actively involved in various Matariki events in our area, as they felt confident sharing their newly acquired knowledge as well as asking questions.
This was a wonderful field trip which linked with our classroom learning. The kids particularly enjoyed watching the web conferences.
We were able to relate this field trip to our learning around literacy, science, social science & the arts. The setup of the material encouraged students to work both collaboratively & independently.
We were studying Matariki as a whole school so this field trip was fantastic!
Our focus this term was "Exploration" and this trip linked beautifully with this. We have many Pacifica students in our class and it enabled them to make connections to their heritage, culture and history.
Fantastic background information for my students; they all really enjoyed it. Great resource that all students and teachers should use.
Absolutely fantastic experience. Complimented the work we were doing with School Kit. Supported all key comps, real learning for the kids, integrated into many learning areas, authentic learning.
Love it! There are connections to all of the Key Competencies and Learning Areas as students become engaged by the 'Real People' behind the information. Also gives students an opportuntity to connect with others in an authentic digital experience.
Supported all of the KC's, the Nature of Science and the science capabilities.
It was an appropriate level of challenge, and was fun and engaging at the same time. My students are buzzing after this experience. and are excited about the next LEARNZ field trip.
Not only did my students enjoy this BioBlitz field trip, they were able to apply their learning to our local area. Having the ability to listen to the background pages being read to them is empowering for my lower ability readers. It means that they can still get the same information and complete the tasks.
Pitched at a perfect level for my Year 4/5 class and went well for our place-based focus for the term. It supported and excited my students in an inclusive and well-planned way.
It linked in to our syndicate camp in the Tangihuas by Whangarei. It backed up our teaching points on why we need to monitor wildlife and trap introduced pets.
It fitted in with our next unit "Living Landscapes" and my students' interets in NZ spiders. It was my first time doing a live web conference and my class and I found it to be enjoyable, especially hearing from the experts, and they learned about the etiquette of that situation.
Great way to extend learners in science and mathematics. Adjustable for Years 1-6. Lots of Key Competencies.
The learners were excited by the theme of the trip and carried out their own BioBlitz as a result. LEARNZ provides great resources and exciting opportunities for our learners to hear from experts in the field and to see practical applications for their learning.