- Elizabeth Barrett-Zahn
Information Processing (Call for Papers)
Publication date: May/June 2022
Manuscript deadline: August 1, 2021
By definition, Information Processing is the acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. In today's world, we often associate Information Processing with computers. Yet, for K-5 students, LS1.D Information Processing focuses on how organisms detect, process, and use information about environments (Framework; NRC 2012). Whether it's an animal responding to a sighting of a predator, an instinctive response to changes in weather precipitating migration, or how plants respond to stimuli, this DCI allows for multiple entry points for student-directed learning.

For this issue of Science and Children, we are looking for innovative, intriguing classroom-tested ideas for preschool and elementary students' learning about Information Processing.
Article suggestions for this issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
Share how students can be engaged in three-dimensional learning, as they increase their understanding of how plants and animals can sense and respond to the world around them.
Describe a lesson or unit of study where students are the drivers of the learning through exploring phenomena with student-led inquiries focusing on Information Processing.
Share common misconceptions students bring to this topic and how these can be dispelled as students are offered opportunities to reconceptualize their understandings through investigations and modeling.
Explain a sequence of critical points in the learning progression necessary to build essential understandings of the core ideas of Information Processing.