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.