Show and Tell: Pairing Language with Visual Cue Cards to Support Meaningful Early STEM Experiences

As a speech pathologist and a former early childhood educator, we are constantly reflecting on ways to universally design environments so that all children can learn and engage in playful STEM experiences. Using visual cues is one of our favorite ways to connect abstract concepts to concrete, meaningful experiences and support children in engaging and participating across a variety of learning experiences. 

Visual cues can be anything from a picture to a schedule to a boundary, such as a piece of tape indicating where a child’s materials should be kept (Center for Development and Disability, n.d.). These types of cues can be used for a variety of purposes such as supporting children in following routines, understanding expectations, or making sense of new information (National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations, 2021). In terms of teaching, providing a visual cue, such as a picture, can help bring context to a situation that might otherwise be confusing. For example, if you’re talking about clouds with children, but you aren’t outside, a visual cue of a cloud can help provide the context for the conversation in an environment where clouds are not physically present.  

In this blog, we are going to focus more narrowly on how to use one type of visual cue: visual cue or picture cards. These cards are often images that represent objects, ideas, or experiences. We’ll walk through how to pair these types of cues with language or gestures to support children’s STEM learning.  

Let’s go back to our example about clouds and weather! Maybe you do have access to an outdoor space, and you want to teach children about clouds and weather outside. You might use a gesture to point to the sky as you describe the clouds,“Clouds are those gray and white shapes in the sky.” You could go further by talking more in depth about what clouds are and describing them in greater detail, “Clouds are made up of itty-bitty drops of water. How cool.” 

So, where does the visual cue card come in?  

After the initial experience, you could pair that new word and concept with a visual of a cloud to continue the conversation outside of the context of the outdoor space. You might bring a visual cue card of a cloud out later at circle or snack time and ask a question or make a statement about clouds, gesturing to the visual as you say the word “cloud” to support children’s understanding of the word and of the symbol that represents it. “Hmm, today it was so cloudy outside, we could hardly see the sun. I wonder if there will be clouds again tomorrow.” Alternatively, while reading a book with pictures of clouds, you might remind children about the clouds you saw earlier. As you point to a cloud in the book, you could say “Wait, we saw these earlier too! These are called clouds.” 

It’s important to remember that understanding symbols is not innate; rather, pairing the visual with an experience and/or simple explanation, as in the example above, can help children develop a deeper understanding of the pictorial representation as well as the concept itself (The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning , 2010). 

Now that we know what visual cue cards are and how we can use them, where do we find them? 

There are a lot of existing visual cue libraries out there, including the STEMIE Visual Cue Library, so don’t feel like you have to make your own! There might be some instances in which you would want to personalize a visual cue for a child, for example by using photos of specific family members instead of using more generic pictures of “mom,” “grandpa,” etc. Further, it’s always important to collaborate with the vision specialist on your child’s team, if they have one, when making decisions about how to represent concepts using symbols. 

In the STEMIE Visual Cue Library, we’ve gathered and organized STEM related visual cues to be used during STEM investigations or during daily routines. You can download visuals from the STEMIE site to create your own library of visual cues. We recommend storing visuals in an album on your phone or computer for quick reference! 

Through continued pairing of visual cues with language, physical experiences, objects, and other real-life examples, you can support children in understanding new STEM concepts and gaining a better understanding of the world around them.