A question that seems to be asked a lot in this subject is about the effectiveness of ICT as an educational tool. Learning about the affordance of objects in the classroom is a good way to break the question down to workout what is it about the technology that makes it worth it? I would argue that there are still a lot of valid ways to teach without technology that get dismissed or upgraded only to lead to increased distraction in the classroom. For me as a Science teacher who majored in Chemistry I would like to do as many practical experiences as possible to ensure that students get a hands on approach to learning. A major problem would be the cost of all these raw materials to destroy for the sake of learning. Using an affordances framework I’d be able to break it down to see if it’s better to show some demonstrations on YouTube or in an app vs individually.

As I don’t like waste I would like to think that technology examples can be used to show something just as effective in real life, but I feel using it to show something not possible in a classroom would be more effective. I would also look to ask other current teachers what their experiences are and if they think critical though is achieved via technology apps.

Morgan, M., Butler, M. & Power, M. (2007). Evaluating ICT in education: A comparison of the affordances of the iPod, DS and Wii. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/morgan.pdf
http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/singapore07/procs/morgan.pdf

Bower, M. (2008). Affordance analysis—matching learning tasks with learning technologies. Educational Media International, 45, 1, 3–15.
http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523980701847115