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



From a Solid to a Liquid

The opening screen of the ‘solid to liquid’ sequence shows an ice cube in a beaker set
on top of a tripod stand in the central screen.

‘Hide Particles, Viewing Option

The image described below is the first in a series of seven that represent the stages in
the transformation from a solid to a liquid in the ‘Hide Particles’ viewing option,
three of the images in the series are represented in figure 6.8.

The solid is specified in the image as an ice cube - an everyday example of a solid
which enables the students to bring their everyday knowledge and experience of the
transformation of a solid to a liquid to their learning. The modal affordances of still
image demand that a specific solid is represented. The ice-cube is represented as a flat
abstracted square shape, at the same time its outline is drawn roughly and includes
thin lined textures. The ice cube is coloured a pale blue. The representation of the
beaker stands someway between a ‘cutaway’ image - showing the thickness of the
glass beaker, and an image using naturalistic perspective in the form of shadows and
reflections of light on the beaker surface. A naturalistic representation (as shown in
figure 6.4) using light and shadow in the representation of the tripod. However, the
proportions of the ice cube, the tripod and the beaker are not naturalistic: if the
proportion of the ice cube and the beaker were correct the tripod would have to be
significantly smaller than it would be in ‘reality’. Proportion is a visual resource that
is used to foreground the image of the ice-cube and to visually signal that it is that
which the students need to attend to.

The diagonal lines of the tripod are visual vectors (see Chapter 3) that ‘act on’ the
beaker and its contents. The visual vectors represent the ice as a passive object that
changes due to the actions of an external force. The presence of these vectors
indicates that the image is a narrative one in which the ‘tripod’ acts on the ice. I
suggest that by its ‘provenance’ the tripod in the image stands for ‘heating’ and

223



More intriguing information

1. Fiscal Sustainability Across Government Tiers
2. Computational Batik Motif Generation Innovation of Traditi onal Heritage by Fracta l Computation
3. The name is absent
4. Migration and Technological Change in Rural Households: Complements or Substitutes?
5. Parent child interaction in Nigerian families: conversation analysis, context and culture
6. Factores de alteração da composição da Despesa Pública: o caso norte-americano
7. Perceived Market Risks and Strategic Risk Management of Food Manufactures: Empirical Results from the German Brewing Industry
8. Effects of a Sport Education Intervention on Students’ Motivational Responses in Physical Education
9. Ein pragmatisierter Kalkul des naturlichen Schlieβens nebst Metatheorie
10. Centre for Longitudinal Studies
11. An alternative way to model merit good arguments
12. Weather Forecasting for Weather Derivatives
13. The name is absent
14. Sex differences in the structure and stability of children’s playground social networks and their overlap with friendship relations
15. The Effects of Reforming the Chinese Dual-Track Price System
16. LOCAL CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNITY SERVICE
17. Visual Perception of Humanoid Movement
18. SLA RESEARCH ON SELF-DIRECTION: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES
19. Fiscal federalism and Fiscal Autonomy: Lessons for the UK from other Industrialised Countries
20. Learning and Endogenous Business Cycles in a Standard Growth Model