What Teachers Say:

"I think it is an important initiative. It allows the teacher to tap into expertise and knowledge outside the classroom."

A. Moncrieff - Mahurangi College

"Great opportunity for children to be involved both at school and home. Parents enjoyed sharing what we had covered each day with their children. Children could think they were in Christchurch. Hands on experience."

C. Woon - Twyford School

"Because it is a trip without the hassles of organisation but yet the chn still get the benefit of authenticity; something you can not replace in learning!"

J. Kelly - Te Kowhai School

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Log In to Canterbury Earthquake

This field trip begins on Feb 23, 2011.
Log In is enabled from 1 month before and content remains accessible after the field trip.

Enrol your classes in this field trip - enrolment is not required for field trips from previous years.

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Inquiry Topics: Canterbury, disasters, earthquake research, earthquakes, emergency management, faults, geographic issue, geology, geomorphology, hazards, liquefaction, planning for earthquakes, plate tectonics, seismic monitoring

Canterbury Earthquake - Term 1, starting Feb 23, 2011

What you will do

Learn from experts about what caused this earthquake. Visit urban and rural places which continue to show the extent of the damage. Hear stories from local people about their experience of the earthquake. Use earthquake measuring devices like the scientists as you collect and analyse data. Shovel liquefied soil and find out why it isn't fun. Make simple models to see the effect of different earthquake waves. Make sure your home is 'quake safe' and learn what to do during and after an earthquake.

Where you will go

New Zealand is nicknamed The Shaky Isles as it lies on a plate boundary and earthquakes are common. Historic records show that on average, New Zealand can expect several magnitude 6 earthquakes every year, one magnitude 7 every 10 years, and a magnitude 8 every century. At 4:34am on 4 September 2010, Canterbury experienced an earthquake which measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. Incredibly, no-one was killed. Some land moved 4 metres sideways in less than a second. Many old buildings in the city were destroyed. Many houses were severely damaged. Liquefaction caused havoc in certain areas. The effects will last for years.

Main Learning Areas

Science: Planet Earth and Beyond Levels 2-8, Nature of Science Levels 2-8; Social Sciences: Social Studies Levels 2-5, Geography Levels 6-8

More Curriculum

Covers Achievement Standards from the new subject of Earth and Space Science (ESS) within the Planet Earth and Beyond Strand such as Science 1.16: Investigate an astronomical or Earth science event (In particular AS90955 - Assessment Resource 1.16B When Christchurch Shook); ESS 2.3: Investigate geological processes in a New Zealand locality; ESS 2.5: Demonstrate understanding of extreme Earth events

Key Competencies, Literacy and Numeracy

By their nature, LEARNZ field trips encourage development of the Key Competencies of Thinking, Using language, symbols and text, Managing self, Relating to others, and Participating and contributing. Teachers continually remind us of this in their evaluation comments. LEARNZ field trips have support and activities for Literacy, with opportunities to develop skills in Listening, Reading and Viewing and in Speaking, Writing and Presenting. LEARNZ field trips have support and activities for Numeracy, encouraging the development of skills in Number and Algebra, in Statistics and in Geometry and Measurement.

ESOL

As well as providing visual and audio material and access to real experiences, LEARNZ links well to ESOL Principles, especially Principle 3 Maintain and make explicit the same learning outcomes for all the learners. How can I make the lesson comprehensible to all students? How can I plan the learning tasks so that all the students are actively involved? Do my students understand the learning outcomes? Principle 4 Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete. How can I put these concepts into a concrete context?

What's in a Field Trip

Every LEARNZ field trip has its own self-contained web site, ready for integration into your teaching and learning programme. The Preparation section contains a Teachers' section with curriculum integration, copies of field trip newsletters, the audioconference timetable, two sets of background pages for students at reading levels 2 years apart, online interactive and print-copy activities to check students' understanding, and a glossary. During the field trip there are daily additions such as a diary, video clips with questions (answers are placed in the Teachers' section), live and recorded audioconferences, profiles of the experts (ideal careers education), a photo gallery, ambassador (mascot) page updates, and Ask-an-Expert - a web board for students to post questions for answering overnight. After the field trip, teachers are encouraged to take further action with their class in the community or going on a related field trip, or inviting a guest speaker, or presenting what they have learned to a wider group. Teachers also fill in an online evaluation, the field trip prize winner is drawn, and the final newsletter is sent. Content remains online for continued use.

How teachers use LEARNZ

There are two main ways teachers use a LEARNZ virtual field trip with their class. Firstly, a LEARNZ field trip is ideally an immersive, engaging, synchronous, online learning experience with real-time components and a myriad of opportunities for teachers and students. Secondly, and less ideal but still effective, a LEARNZ field trip can be used as a retrospective experience where the resources such as photos, text, activities, videos and audioconferences comprise a unique collection of real, contemporary New Zealand teaching and learning material.

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