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

Remaining in the ^lHide^lParticles' view she selects the starting temperature
setting and begins to raise temperature until the water evaporates
Switches to ‘View Particles ’ but does not raise the temperature setting
Write her answers on the worksheet

Kylie: You know number four, yeah. I’ve writ’ ‘they’re still on each other but they
move a bit, not too much’.

Watching the liquid in the ‘View Particles’ option

The students’ choice of viewing option on the CD-ROM can be understood as a sign
both of which aspects they are attending to in the phenomena ‘states of matter’, and
how they position themselves in relation to the production of knowledge in the
science classroom. Lucy stays primarily in the ‘Hide Particles’ viewing option and
does not explore the transformation in the ‘View Particles’ option she is observing
the everyday for evidence. She stays at the level of ‘guess’ or ‘hypothesis’ and
answers the questions posed by the teacher without engaging fully with the scientific
representation. Yet she occupies an expert∕teacher role (she both takes this role and is
‘presented’ with it by the other students). In contrast, the two other students, Kylie
and Connie only view the transformation from a liquid to a gas in the ‘View
Particles’ viewing option. Their ‘predictions’ are a matter of interpreting what they
can see, and matching this with the teacher’s questions on the worksheet. ‘Prediction’
for them, is a matter of record. Another student, Jemima who moves from the ‘Hide
Particles’ view to the ‘View Particles’ option is involved in a different process, she is
involved in prediction, observation and explanation.

The students’ choice of ‘point of view’ serves to position them differently to the
entities and more generally to the learning of science. The student, Lucy, who works
with the ‘Hide Particles’ option focused her observations on the empirical
representation of the surface appearance of the phenomena and the task of predicting
what will happen. This choice positions her as being able to imagine the ‘particles’ -
having a given knowledge of the scientific theory that underpins the explanation of

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