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

In this chapter I explore what happens when, in the move from page to screen, the
modal resources of animation and colour are made available in the construction of the
curriculum entities ‘particle’ and ‘states of matter’. A central question in this chapter
is ‘what happens when the central work of the teacher and the students shifts from
one of visualising the ‘particles’ in their arrangements in one of the three states, to
observing them in their transition from state to state?’; that is, in the shift from
arrangement as state to the ‘process of transformation’?’.

In the following section I describe the multimodal resources that Multimedia Science
School (2001) makes available in the classroom and analyse how these shape the
curriculum entities ‘states of matter’, ‘particles’, ‘solid’, ‘liquid’ and ‘gas’. I then
discuss how the teacher and students worked with these resources, and the ways in
which their practices and roles were transformed through their interaction with the
resources and the facilities of the medium.

The CD-ROM, Screen and its Characteristics

Multimedia Science School (2001) covers a range of curriculum topic areas including
‘states of matter’. Each ‘state’ is represented as a ‘button’ on the left panel of the
screen. When a topic is selected, a series of keys are displayed detailing the contents
of the topic. Selecting one of these content keys activates a multimodal sequence
using the modes of image, colour and movement (called a ‘slide-show’ within the
application) which is displayed in the central ‘screen-within a screen’.

When the topic ‘states of matter’ is selected, a series of keys showing the ‘content’ of
the topic are displayed on a panel on the right side of the screen (prior to this
selection these keys are not displayed). These keys relate to transformations from
one state of matter to another, or to be more specific, from ‘solid to liquid’, ‘liquid to
gas’, ‘gas to liquid’, ‘liquid to solid’ and ‘sublimation’. (I do not discuss the CD-
ROM representation of ‘Sublimation’ as it is not an area that the students
investigated.)

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