ABSTRACT
This chapter explores aspects of the relationship between visual representation and thinking. Children’s own visual representations support the creation of personal meaning and are as vital a narrative form as speech and movement for young children. Visual representation acts also as an important means of communication for young children, in which they can express ideas, thoughts and theories visually. E. Coates and A. Coates assert that young children’s scribble is conceptually rich, and anything but ‘meaningless’. They stress its place in young children’s overall development, including their thinking. Many of the examples so far have focused on mark-making and drawing, but all of the other ways in which children represent their worlds visually are important, both by themselves, and multimodally, combining drawing, found materials, model making and construction. Digital technologies provide contexts which are different to conventional visual tools such as pencils and paper, and, as a result, influence not only how children make meaning, but what meanings are made.
