You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Teacher testimonials
Wetland Biodiversity
Embedded LEARNZ and then went on our own field trip to Cleardale Wetland. More on my Blog.
Project Crimson
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.
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.
It complements my classroom programme and provides fantastic learning opportunities undercover of ICT.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It was perfect for exploring our theme - Bounce Back / Adapt. My students loved talking to an expert.
Kids Restore the Kepler
Well planned, organised, interesting, and good interactive stuff for the students.
It linked to our sustainability unit. We liked it because we felt we were there and the scientists connected with us.
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.
Fantastic learning experiences for the students. Māori kupu were also used and enveloped in our vocabulary wall.
The biggest benefit was being able to relate to it on a personal level and also to be able to follow up on it in our local community.
The field trip was appropriate for my Year 7 class and the Year 10 class we worked with. History, tikanga and Te Reo included in background pages provided relevance to Maori students.
Related it to our small area of bush at school. So far we have set a trap, the same type as was in the video. Special needs loved the video presentations and gained from them.
Fits beautifully with our upcoming Term 3 inquiry as to how we can help in our community.
Hooked them in from the beginning - ambassadors/videos - high interest activities. Helped the children to focus on our concept of "taonga". Authentic learning that helps all children through the use of various learning styles. Great for helping to differentiate the programme for the wide range of children in my class.
Students were able to really get their teeth into this topic. With the local resources also coming to the party it was a great way to learn about our native flora and fauna. Allowed the students to feel like they were actually there on the trip!
Resources were very easy to download and adapt for our students with specific needs. Our school had a Maori Community Hui during the trip and feedback directly from parents of children in the class was extremely positive. Great to be able to follow from home as well.
I have a student who cannot read or write yet he was able to watch the videos as part of a whole class activity and orally contribute, just like everyone else. Engagement of the students, they said they did no real work watching the videos and completing the questions independently, however the level of understanding was higher than is typically observed from text based resources.
The activities suited cooperative work. The māori perspective was relevant throughout. We loved the vocab lists on each background activity. Again learning in a real context for the children - of all abilities and cultures makes it truly meaningful.
Canterbury Earthquakes
We are inquiring into how natural forces shape the earth so information about earthquakes as a force was very relevant The field trips deepen children's understandings and are a means of the girls making local connections to global situations.
Provides access to areas that we can not just jump in a van and travel to.