CHAPTER 3 THE PERIODIC TABLE, ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND
3.7 AFFORDANCE
(iv) Apply technological tools that aid visualisation of concepts with a guided sequence of steps to promote clarity and engagement. Technology becomes helpful when the lesson allows learners to visualise concepts (Abla & Fraumeni, 2019).
(v) Use a multimedia approach, e.g., music samples, short film clips from video games, movies or real-life situations. Keep electronic slides to the minimum with fewer slides full of texts and use more graphics (El-Shamy, 2004:21-29). Multimedia and discussion could increase the emotional engagement of learners even though they may not automatically increase their behavioural engagement and cognitive engagement (Nueva & Calica, 2018:115-118).
(vi) Multimedia activities will lead to improved understanding, increased retention, efficient skills and knowledge transfer by purposefully engaging learners through technological media (Abla & Fraumeni, 2019; Taylor et al., 2016; Wu & Puntambekar, 2012; Marzano &
Pickering, 2010).
Norman’s Affordances
Norman acknowledged that the perceptual psychologist Gibson coined the word affordance, including the idea, perception and understanding provided by affordance. But he disagreed with him on fundamental ideas which they often discussed at a personal level or formally at conferences and seminars (Norman, 1988:12). Among others, Norman viewed the processing mechanism as important, but to Gibson, it was irrelevant (Norman, 1999:38-39). Norman (1988), on the other hand, related affordance to the relationship between a physical object and a person.
Norman combines affordances with past knowledge and experience. Norman concluded that affordances reflect the possible relationships among actors, objects, and the physical manipulation of the objects (Norman, 1988;1999).
Comparing Gibson’s and Norman's ideas about affordances
This section highlights the different meanings assigned to the concept of affordance by Gibson and Norman (McGrenere & Ho, 2000).
Gibson’s Affordances
• Introduced the word affordance to explain how people handled the world.
• An affordance subsists, or it does not subsist.
• Does not distinguish between different affordances (perceived and real).
Norman’s Affordances
• Introduced the word affordance into the world of interaction design.
• Perceived characters may exist or may not.
• Distinguish between perceived and real affordances.
Conceptualizing affordance
Development of the notion of affordance moved from design and psychology into many areas of study. However, there are claims that Affordance is poorly defined, therefore, more work is to be done on the definition (Stoffregen 2000; Jones, 2003).
Corno and Mandinach analysed how Snow used Gibson’s (1977) notion of affordances to explain how situations activate and develop human potential. The finding was that the more affordances learners perceive to be present in a given task, the more meaning they can take from the
experience (Corno & Mandinach, 2004:307-312). According to Corno and Mandinach (2004:309- 311,) there is an ecological “fit” between learner and situation, a person and environment. When learners adjust to what a situation offers and the opportunities it affords, they get locked into place and absorb what they can.
Usefulness and usability of affordances
In recent studies, different researchers have identified various objects, artifacts, environments and animals related to affordances. This include learning, instructions, and scientific representations that could be used to ensure diverse affordances support learners’ engagement in scientific activities (Milne & Otieno, 2007).
The use of everyday items and resources for demonstration affords learner agency (agentic engagement), but unfamiliar resources and scientific equipment hinder their agency because learners are overwhelmed by the equipment or learning how to use the equipment before attending to the science contents (Milne & Otieno, 2007: 527-539). A structured classroom allowing interactions affords learners’ observation and manipulation of resources (Milne & Otieno, 2007).
Affordances of flipped learning environment
Bormann’s (2014) study produced the following affordances in a flipped learning environment.
• Has the ability to access various types of learners with varying cognitive levels.
• Affordance of increase in perceived engagement affords more learners to perceived to be engaged.
Affordances of using fiction for teaching chemistry
• Yerrick and Simons (2017:232 -233) identified the following affordances for using fiction for teaching chemistry:
• Increase and expand the interest of non-science learners and cross-disciplinary learning.
• Creating serious-minded regular users of media
• Explore the real-life environment we live in.
Affordances of music
McGrenere and Ho (2007:7) on the usefulness of affordance, contended that affordance of music playability for piano is the playability, within which the piano keys have affordance of depress
ability. Gall and Breeze mentioned that technological affordance allowed individual learners or groups to control their time composing music (Gall & Breeze, 2005:429-430).
Musical affordances provide different forms of musical engagement (Krueger, 2014). Krueger proposed that musical affordances increase the operational intricacy of emotion (Krueger, 2014).
Furthermore, musical affordances are the specific things we can do with music (Krueger, 2014:7- 9):
• Music affords movement to the listener.
• Music affords responsive engagement.
• Musical affordances provide resources and feedback that enhance factors responsible for creating and maintaining emotional experience.
• Musical affordances enhance the listener access to emotional improvement, attention, and distinct facial expressions.
Affordances of context-based inquiry
Context-based learning provides opportunities to identify and solve significant problems, which aim to make learning more meaningful (Broman, Bernholt, & Parchmann, 2018:1176). Context- based learning comprises of different learning tasks and approaches resulting in different affordances. Broman et al., categorised the tasks and affordances according to levels of complexity by the following keywords:
• Affordance level 1 Everyday experiences
• Affordance level 2 Name
• Affordance level 3 Describe
• Affordance Level 4 & 5 Explain
Broman et al., (2018) argued that the specific affordances of context-based problems and context questions, (which are not easy chemistry-related application questions) was reflected in the learners’ answers. This implies that affordances can be detected from learners’ responses.
Wu and Puntambekar (2012) identified the following affordances of demonstration, physical models’ representations, planning and conducting investigations which are characteristics of context-based inquiry:
• Relate to a real-life context.
• Physical interaction.
• Measuring and collecting data.
According to Webb (2005:723-724), affordances of projects (CBI project) include:
• Recognising factors from the real-life scenario.
• Reviewing progress feedback and solving problems.
The use of the symbolic environment and laboratory activities will be able to provide cognitive and social affordances that encourage the building of shared knowledge of scientific experience (Kozima, 2003:200-224).
Affordances of computer simulation
Wu and Puntambekar (2012) specified that affordances of simulation allow learners to do the following:
• Conduct investigation that are not easy to manipulate variables in the physical world.
• Visualise relationships between variables in science context (Wu & Puntambekar, 2012:756).
Webb (2005) argued that computer simulations provide new affordances for learning when they are based on experiences and context that cannot easily be observed and explored in the real world. Webb (2005: 727-728) formulated the following conclusions:
• Simulations on laboratory experimentations provide affordances that make it easier to interaction, think and understand the context.
• The use of computer simulations afford conceptual change.
• Affordance of computer simulations activities enables learners to work at higher cognitive levels.
• The designs address Piagetian formal operations that are abstract and difficult.
• Computer simulations that have internet support learner research project.
It is argued that technology affords learning and education when technology facilitates merging of social and educational contexts (Kirschner, 2002:18).