A Multimodal Framework for Computer Mediated Learning: The Reshaping of Curriculum Knowledge and Learning

representations that show the direction of bounce. The two images of the springs can
be seen as curling vectors of action the tip of which points in the direction of
movement - in the case of the vertical spring the tip points up wards and in the case
of the horizontal spring it points to the right. In the third image of the ball the arrow
is a visual map of the direction of the movement of the ball.

The compositional arrangement of the three behaviours in the anima-gadget is a
resource that serves to indicate their potential for action. For example, the vertical
spring occupies a vertical block of space along the vertical axis of the screen and the
horizontal spring occupies a horizontal block of space along the horizontal axis of the
screen. The strong frame of the anima-gadget serves to visually classify the
behaviours as a set.

The images are represented from a frontal angle. The springs and ball are represented
in a diagrammatic style with little detail and limited shading. These aspects are often
associated with scientific representation of information. In this way the behaviours
begin a visual move toward incorporating a scientific or technical coding orientation.

The ball and the two springs are coloured a fluorescent lime green. The barriers that
the springs move against and the square that the ball moves within is coloured a dark
violet. The intense luminosity of the green colour contrasts with the absorbent
darkness of the violet. The colour co-ordination of the elements in the three
behaviours signifies their classification in the anima-gadget ‘bouncing’. The use of
intense and highly saturated colour in the behaviours is highly sensory and this works
along side the aspects of technical coding outlined above.

The animated sequences of the springs movement between two bars, and the ball
contained within the square, work to give meaning to the entity ‘bounce’ in the
context of the Toontalk program. The movement is regular, repetitive, controlled and
contained.

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