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Testimonials

Kauri

We are in a reasonably remote area and it is great that we can interact with other schools. The Web Quest was fantastic for a range of abilities. LEARNZ is wonderful for those students who learn in different ways e.g. listening (and they can refer back to recordings to check information). We are now interested in "adopting" a local reseve and planting some natives, including kauri.

Debra Sheehan from Pukenui School

The virtual field trip worked well for my mixed ability y9 science class. It engaged the students and it was relevant to the curriculum. The class enjoyed the wide range of activities. One of my students is a boarder, who has iwi connections, with the far north and kauri forests - the kauri are taonga to her iwi. She was very engaged in this unit of work.

Phoebe van der Pol from Nelson College for Girls

I used a lot of independent learning time using the background pages which promoted managing self. Also promotes community engagement, future focused thinking. It is well integrated across the curriculum and supports a range of learning types.

Kate Cvitanovich from Nelson Intermediate

Children really enjoyed learning about kauri dieback. We participated in all three web conferences and I am pleasantly suprised at how much the children learned. The field trip links well to the Key Competencies as well as our school values, and was inclusive of all cultures.

Tosca Parata from Kenakena School

Easy to implement and a wide variety of resources to choose from. We made a kauri forest in our class with tracks and did some science experiments. Being hands on the students really enjoyed the new learning and have retained the information well.

Amelia Read from Pillans Point School

I like that we can do the work live, or delay it to suit our needs, and either way not miss out on any of the content. It helped the children to further understand the need to value our natural environment and how easy it is for us to lose a taonga through lack of awareness or willingness to contribute. This topic also increased their cultural awareness.

Cathy Norris from Norris Home School

My 31 mixed-ability children were completely engaged in our study. It was such an authentic context for us, as we are a silver enviroschool and we have three kauri at our school that we are learning to protect. Was great for the children to see real science in action; they were very interested in the laboratory work.

Lynn Douglas from St Francis Xavier Catholic School Whangarei

It was a really good way for students to learn about NZ and what's happening currently and in a manner that they could choose how they participated; some were more independent and others more supported.

Mary-Ann Bailey from St Peter's College (Palmerston North)

Ties in so well with the guiding principles - Education for sustainability, Treaty of Waitangi etc. My Year 4 children were engaged and able to relate this field trip to our term concept of Turangawaewae. Content interesting and informative. Well presented as usual by Andrew with passion. Children with different learning styles are well catered for and my special needs children are also keen to engage in this type of online learning.

Lynn Douglas from St Francis Xavier Catholic School Whangerei

This was a brilliant trip for my class. They gained a sense of guardianship responsibility for kauri. The videos were absolutely wonderful and students loved reading the diary entries also. The field trip enabled me to transport my students to a distant place, at no cost, in order to show them first hand some real NZ based learning. Students feel they know Andrew and Egbert and are keen to do more trips.

Brigitte Glasson from Westburn School

There is so much in a LEARNZ field trip that it is possible to pick and choose what is most suitable for each class. There is so much motivating stuff to choose from for supporting reading, writing, inquiry, oral language, etc. I like the way that Te Reo is incorporated - this really supports Te Reo in my class.

Leone Baylis from Fairburn School

It brings things alive for the kids, as many are visual learners. Fabulous to learn from experts. It covered participating and contributing beautifully, and we also connected it to "Understanding about Science".

Lisa Davies from Red Beach School

The kids really enjoyed it and were well supported on the website, as they we able to navigate to find their way around to answer questions they had generated. I was able to take different aspects for different abilities in the class. We also followed up with a visit in our local area to a native bush stand.

Vicki Karetai from Brooklyn School Motueka

It provided a quality opportunity for integrating eLearning into the Inquiry programme. As part of our inquiry we will be researching possible sites at school and in our local area to plant several Kauri. I really like the questions and activities for further inquiry in the green boxes at the bottom of the Background pages. The videos also provided excellent class discussion with the questions that were attached to each video. Many children revisited the videos frequently during the trip.

Heather Richmond from Otakiri School

Owing to time constraints with other curriculum areas, I sadly did not get an opportunity to use this wonderful resource with my class. I will be using it retrospectively however.

Valerie Moratti from Havelock North Intermediate

Adds to the learning experiences of our topic studies. We are studying kauri dieback using the "Keep Kauri Standing - Kauri Dieback" school resource so this trip supported that learning. It visited some of the areas we had already learned about and added some information from experts that helped to answer some of the questions we had.

Sharon McGaffin from Verran Primary School

Geohazards

Very appropriate for my multi level and age class. Well supported. The field trip enabled learners to gain knowledge in aspects of geology which they then used in writing and oral language. Students were highly engaged. Excellent resource!

Sarah Leonard from Sherenden and Districts School

This Geohazards virtual field trip hit the nail on the head as a learning tool for Year 8 Earth Science. It has been a great chance for a small rural Northland school to see the wider world, and has broadened my horizons in terms of what is possible with my classes.

Adrian Humm from Ruawai College

Childern learnt a lot about geohazards in NZ, other than just earthquakes. So easy to incorporate into the programme; can 'take' children to parts of NZ that we are too far away from; can access any time after the trip begins; has good range of material that engages children eg photos and videos and background pages...

Jennifer Coyle from Edendale School (Southland)

The values of respecting one another by listening to each other was important (and able to be reinforced by the field trip context). Applying the principle of learning to learn independently and collaborating information in groups proved to be an asset for managing self and relating to others.

Seuga Frost from Ohau School

My class were hooked and the videos were great as they helped my kids understand geohazards better (visual). The class are now planning their next steps 'how to prepare'. I will use LEARNZ again as it provides interesting topics that affect my class and ensures they develop their own thinking/questions to explore (what now? what next?). Also oportunities for research, reading and exploring non fiction texts, science case and effect.

Scott Feisst from Selwyn Ridge School

Pitched to range of levels - many students are visual learners so the videos and photo gallery are especially useful. Ability to revisit info and to pace themselves as they read through the background notes is also good.

Robyn Gillies from Roncalli College

Level of language in the resources was perfect for my wide-range ability Year 10s. The format encourages persistence and allows students to work at their own pace, through material that engages them, testing their knowledge without lots of writing! Parents were able to view the material and this was a valuable opportunity to engage our community.

Claudine Tyrrell from Kaikorai Valley College

Up-to-date, relevant, interesting and provides a great framework for computer assisted research while at the same time students are developing social and cooperative skills. Particularly useful as we were specifically looking at Tsunami. Information is culturally relevant and there is a wide range of resources so all learners in my class can achieve, accomplish something.

Gavin Kidd from Ellesmere College

Contributes to learning objective for both Earth and Space Science L2 internal and external assessment. Helped as part of the inquiry process with student-led learning. Good opportunity for managing self. 

Lucy Meagher from Havelock North High School

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