Oyako de Science (Learning about science with parents): Developing an Educational Program for Scientific Experiments Using Cell Phones

This papers reports on the development of an educational program, consisting mainly of scientific experiments for elementary school children of the third to fifth grade together with their parents. The program is titled "Oyako de Science: learning about science with parents (OYAKO)" Under the OYAKO program a child learns about the subject "light" for three weeks. The program consists of: 1) experiments by children and their parents together, 2) experiments by the children alone, 3) documentation using workbooks or drills. In the OYAKO program cell phones are used as tools to elicit from the parents, what we consider to be \´\´the engagement of parents in their children\´s learning." We expect that with the participation of parents and thus their engagement in their child\´s education