Virtual manipulatives running on tablets have been demonstrated to improve students' conceptual understanding in previous studies. However, the differential effects on group interaction during face-to-face collaborative inquiry learning from the support of alternative technology affordances has received little attention. Technology affordances in collaborative learning refer to the types of support provided by instructional technologies to group members to facilitate the enactment of certain behaviors. Technology affordances in this study are provided by the mobile device--student ratio and external scripts. To explore the effect of technology affordances on group interaction in detail, this study compared four technology affordance conditions for collaborative inquiry learning (1) 1:1 with external scripts; (2) 1:m with external scripts; (3) 1:1 without external scripts; and (4) 1:m without external scripts. A total of 130 fifth-grade students volunteered to participate in three rounds of scientific collaborative inquiry experiments with assignment to technology affordance conditions. From the perspectives of role emergence, role coordination, and group structure, the role-based interactions of the participating groups were examined using thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, and social network analysis. The findings indicated that the different roles students played represented different social statuses in the group, which led to trade-offs in orientation to individual consciousness and collective rules. Moreover, we observed that a stable action orientation within groups during inquiry facilitates proper internal coordination, and that close interaction does not necessarily lead to efficient collaboration.