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Testimonials

Wetland Biodiversity

Fitted in very well with our Term School focus of Kaitiaki and Science focus of Living World. Preparing for the audio conference extended our students thinking and created a whole new level of class discussions and understanding.

Richard Kerr from Avondale Intermediate

The students loved it. It gave me an easy way to extend the knowledge of my more able students while also engaging my less able students. Great for peer work. Because of the way this was set up, I was able to create links to my class page, which encouraged students to access the class page out of school hours. We are also currently in the early stages of Enviro-schools; this helped get students thinking about what is going on around us as well as human impact.

Marcia Ferguson from Rosebank School Balclutha

It saves teachers valuable time. It is great to have the experts and a meaningful context for inquiry learning. My Year 3/4s learnt about braided rivers and were able to develop open questions for the audio conference. It was good to have a voice-over for the background pages. The panoramic section was excellent for making inferences.

Lynn Burrell from Waikite Valley School

LEARNZ adds depth to a study, and purposeful inquiry for reading groups. The background reading and the videos gave students a wide appreciation of the diversity of our native wetlands.  

Katherine Webster from Waimairi School

We were studying a local waterway and were able to compare the bio-diversity between our waterway in the Far North with a fresh waterway in the South Island. The students were motivated to research their topic, find out more about their own community and particularly enjoy the audio conference and following their ambassador.

Diane Henderson from Ohaeawai School

The field trips are informative, exciting and a great learning experience. Relevant to all learners because it used correct language for te reo maori and showed how LEARNZ value te ao maori through the concepts explored. The newsletters were also great, with lots of easy steps.

Nicola Burtenshaw from Longburn School

I feel it covered all areas of the key competencies - I used it to foster new learning relationships within our class, and it was an excellent tool to draw out my innovative thinkers. Due to the video nature of this field trip, the students were very engaged.

Kathryn Rayson from Brooklyn School Motueka

Ability to have contact with scientists and other experts provides an authentic learning experience. We were able to learn about other wetlands and compare them to our local wetlands. Great background information and resources. Thank you!

Sonjia Campbell from Mercury Bay Area School

Great engagement in our inquiry topic. Great content in differentiated forms. Connected to the environment and groups involved in community. Experts' content was put into language the students could understand.

Stuart Cooke from Methven School

This type of learning appealed to my Year 6 boys. It's a good way to use ICT in the classroom for learning interesting topics. It can be flexible and self-managed. It was helpful being able to access it online to suit our timetable and good that students could access the information at home.  

Stephanie Johnson from St Joseph's School Timaru

Key competencies were all addressed through the use of this field trip and it was easy use the material to differentiate for different learners. The LEARNZ trips are motivating for students and supporting for teachers. They are broad enough to use as the basis for many Inquiry topics and versatile enough to use over a long or short period. 

Leone Baylis from Fairburn School

Set at the perfect level for My Class of year 7/8 students. They took in so much information! There are lots of different ways the students are engaged through text, video, listening, and interacting. It was good to have the Māori aspects included in the Wetlands study.

Amy Clode from Grantlea Downs School

Easy to use and great resources. The 2 levels of background pages were appropriate. Short videos with questions meant students didn't get bored.

Abbey Reith from Timaru Boys' High School

The answers were in-depth from the three experts for the areas that we are investigating. An easy way to conduct a field trip. Also very accessible for those with learning challenges.  

Ross Nicholson from Rangiora New Life School

You bring the outside world to us! Boys especially are absorbed by the videos and discussions with scientists - you help turn them on to learning. The field trip helped us connect and participate with our community and is making science real and meaningful.

Jennifer Kitchin from Weston School

Project Crimson

It was perfect for exploring our theme - Bounce Back / Adapt. My students loved talking to an expert.  

Emma Watts from Upper Moutere School

Many of our reading and writing strategies and progressions were able to be met by the field trip, as well as integrating our topic studies. I also used the diary readings as a shared reading activity, which was great. Students recorded questions throughout the audio conferences and we posted them in the Ask an Expert forum. Shelley responded that evening and we were able to integrate that into the classroom programme the next day. The students loved seeing their personal questions answered.  

Nichola-Marie Hunt from Coastal Taranaki School

It matched our concept for the term 'Our Place' - the way we interact with living things affects our place. We will use LEARNZ again because it motivates the students, information is at your fingertips, it has well informed experts and it's lots of fun.  

Patricia Harrison from Titirangi School

It is a great way to learn. Students are made aware of important conservation issues in a fun way. The various activities cover a variety of learning styles.The topics can often be linked to local communities.  

Caroline Arnold from Lepperton School

The students found the videos and photos to be very interesting. They developed their knowledge of pest threats in NZ and also developed a positive attitude to how they can help with campaigns like Project Crimson & Living Legends. LEARNZ is an excellent programme.  

Philip Lightbourne from Kairanga School

They are well planned and provide us with a link to experts and sites we would not usually visit. Excellent for developing literacy and numeracy in a purposeful context.  

Douglas Drysdale from Bunnythorpe School

It complements my classroom programme and provides fantastic learning opportunities undercover of ICT.  

Deborah Young from Bamford School

Great to learn about our New Zealand icons. I always enjoy Learnz and have been using it for the last 6 or 7 years because it is an absolute gem to all teachers and students.  

Daniele Cuthbert from Edgecumbe School

I find the field trips a great way of introducing vocab and scientific language to students. As well as teaching inquiry skills and science knowledge students are reading for information and engaging with text, video and audio information to present findings.  

Stuart Cooke from Methven School

Kids Restore the Kepler

Great info from fantastic experts guiding us through a real conservation/science issue. Fitted perfectly with our term unit on Native Plants and Animals.  More from Chris on the VLN. 

Christopher Wratt from Hanmer Springs School

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