What Teachers Say:

"Useful visuals for the tourism class - destinations around NZ that they have never seen"

C. Nelson - Ellesmere College

"The students can participate in an interactive programme without leaving the classroom. The LEARNZ activities, information and presenters covered a wide range of information in a way that is interesting for students. LEARNZ virtual field trips help us bring 'Experts' into the classroom to support and enhance our 'Inquiry' Units."

S. Harnett - Rangiora Borough School

"It is another way to pass information on to children and children responded well to this technology - have been asking for it again!!"

C. Anderson - Templeton School

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Log In to Kiwi - saving rowi, our rarest kiwi

This field trip begins on Nov 21, 2012.
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.

Download the Intro Preview

Watch the Intro Video

Inquiry Topics: adaptations of birds, biodiversity, birds, competition, conservation, environment, flightless birds, habitat, icons, kiwi, kiwi recovery, life cycle, native birds, pest control, predators, protected environments, rowi, taonga, threatened species, West Coast

Kiwi - saving rowi, our rarest kiwi - Term 4, starting Nov 21, 2012

What you will do

In preparation for this field trip you will learn about

• New Zealand birds
• the different species of kiwi
• kiwi features
• life cycle
• diet
• the special significance of kiwi to Māori
• threats to kiwi
• the new "Kiwis for kiwi" initiative
• how you can help the kiwi

• visit a kiwi conservation project on the West Coast
• meet dedicated people from DOC who are involved in kiwi recovery and BNZ Operation Nest Egg
• use the specialised technologies and techniques including the egg-timer transmitter and the aerial sky ranger to track incubating kiwi eggs
• join the forest search for a kiwi burrow and help lift a wild egg to be taken back to the West Coast Wildlife Centre for incubation
• find out how conservation groups and volunteers are making a difference to kiwi right across New Zealand
• meet Michelle Impey, Executive Director of Kiwis for Kiwi, and work out what you can do to make a difference in your part of New Zealand

Where you will go

Rowi are New Zealand's rarest kiwi, with an estimated 300 surviving in just 10 000 hectares in South Ōkārito Forest, in South Westland. There are five species of kiwi that live throughout New Zealand. In the 1990s it was recognised that kiwi were on the brink of extinction and it was not known why. Introduced predators were identified as the main cause so Operation Nest Egg and other initiatives were set up to help the kiwi recovery programme. Operation Nest Egg is used to boost a population of kiwi quickly but some kiwi conservation projects use predator control as well, or instead of, Operation Nest Egg.

Main Learning Areas

Science: Living World Levels 2-4, Nature of Science Levels 1-4

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.

What Now

Not Registered with LEARNZ? Are you a New Zealand Registered or Provisionally-Registered Teacher? Register free with LEARNZ Now.

Already Registered with LEARNZ and activated your account? Log in to your personal MyLEARNZ Control Panel and then enrol your classes at no cost in field trips. Note: Enrolment is only needed for the current and future year's field trips.

Registered but need help? Check your email for activation instructions - contact us if the message did not make it to your email inbox. Log on to MyLEARNZ.

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