San Diego—The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center has planned an amazing week of fun science events to coincide with the annual San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering, taking place Saturday, March 5, through Saturday, March 12, 2016.  

The festival kicks off with Expo Day at Petco Park on Saturday, March 5. The event is free and open to the public. Look for the Fleet's booth at the festival for fun science interactives, and keep an eye on the main stage to witness loud, messy and shocking science from the Fleet's Don't Try This at Home live show.

Throughout the rest of the week, the Fleet will host an abundance of fun science events for all ages. The events include fun computer programing workshops, STEM demonstrations at neighborhood libraries, live streaming of a full solar eclipse on the other side of the world, workshops on up-cycling and sustainability and fun math tricks you can use to fool your friends. The events will take place at the Fleet as well as schools, libraries, community centers and other venues around San Diego.

This is all in addition to the regular collection of hands-on interactive exhibitions at the Fleet and our current collection of traveling exhibitions, including Taping Shape, Zoo in You, Super Cells and the Art of Science Learning.

(The Fleet also has a special lineup of 21 and up events planned for the week, including presentations on groundbreaking science on the verge of becoming a reality, discussions of art and science while sipping wine, a symposium of seven of the most distinguished scientists in San Diego meeting at a brewery and a fun party at the Fleet with demonstrations of the science behind our favorite superheroes. The full press release on the 21-and-up events is available here.)

Here is a more detailed rundown of the family-friendly Festival events the Fleet has planned

On both Saturday, March 5 and 12, the Fleet will host ThoughtSTEM Computer Programming classes. In these fast-paced, exciting, code-writing workshops, students ages 8-14 choose from a variety of challenges designed to introduce them to computer programming. No coding background is needed. The classes are designed to encourage students to think like a programmer, not just copy and paste code from a workbook. The ThoughtSTEM Computer Programming workshops are from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Registration available here. 

Also on March 5 is the Fleet's Tinkerers' Club Sustainability Workshop on wax stenciling and creating reusable bags. Attendees will learn how to up-cycle an old T-shirt and give it new life as a bag for groceries or to carry things to school. Tinkerers will also use a technique called wax-stenciling to create a design on their reusable bag. This will also be 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Fleet. More information available here. 

On Tuesday, March 8, and Thursday, March 10, the Fleet will also host two STEM in Your Backyard events as part of our community science program, 52 Weeks of Science. These events will feature interactive experiments, hands-on demonstrations and the opportunity to meet a scientist or engineer. The goal of the events is to engage the entire family in STEM, right in their own community! STEM in Your Backyard for Tuesday, March 8, is 3-6 p.m. at Logan Heights Branch Library, 567 S 28th St., San Diego, CA 92113. The event on Thursday, March 10, is 3-6 p.m. at the Weingart City Heights Library, 3795 Fairmount Ave, San Diego, CA 92105. More information available here. 

Also on Tuesday, March 8, science enthusiasts are invited to watch the Total Solar Eclipse: Live From Micronesia, a live broadcast of a total solar eclipse from the Federated States of Micronesia. The Exploratorium in San Francisco is collaborating with NASA and the National Science Foundation to produce this special live-streaming broadcast, available for viewing in the Heikoff Giant Dome Theater at the Fleet Science Center. On that day,the fully eclipsed sun will be visible from only a few Pacific islands, but the live broadcast will make this amazing phenomenon available to San Diegans. The event is 5-6:15 p.m. at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Tickets and additional information available here. 

Last, on Saturday, March 12, the Fleet hosts Saturday Science Club for Girls on the theme of Pi and Other Math Treats. Girls in grades 5-8 can celebrate Pi Day a couple days early, investigate the notorious number with its infinite decimals and amaze their friends with math tricks that seem like magic! Saturday Science Club for Girls is noon-2 p.m. at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. More information available here. 

In addition to these events, the Fleet will be open for regular gallery hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The Fleet galleries feature fun, interactive science exhibits and our current set of traveling exhibitions, including Taping Shape, Zoo in You, Super Cells and the Art of Science Learning. There are also IMAX films screening hourly in the Giant Dome Theater.

"We're excited to sponsor the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering," said Steve Snyder, CEO of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, which has supported the Festival since its inception and is a silver sponsor this year. "It's great to see a whole city energized by science and participating in science, whether it's at an event in their community, at a school or at the Fleet."

The San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering is a ten-day educational experience designed to engage and encourage kids in science and engineering and work with parents and teachers to inspire today's students to become tomorrow's science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) innovators. The events of the festival include interactive science demonstrations, hands-on activities and dynamic speakers to engage kids and families in all that encompasses STEM. The Festival kicks off with its largest event, Expo Day (March 5), at Petco Park. Expo Day is free and open to the public. Hundreds of community businesses and organizations will participate in Expo Day, in addition to over 60 Festival programs and events that will take place throughout the county of San Diego. More than 75,000 kids, parents, teachers, industry leaders and community members are anticipated to attend the Festival.

For more information about the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering, please visit https://www.lovestemsd.org/.

For more information, about Fleet events during the week of Saturday, March 5, to Saturday, March 12, please visit http://www.rhfleet.org/events/san-diego-festival-science-and-engineering.

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To schedule a media preview or interview for any of the listed events, please contact Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Public Relations Manager Nathan Young at 619-685-5743 or nyoung@rhfleet.org.

Interviews can be scheduled with the Fleet's CEO, Dr. Steve Snyder, as well as many of the presenters, experts and organizers of the Fleet events and the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering.

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About the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering

The San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering is a ten-day educational experience including interactive demonstrations, hands-on activities and dynamic speakers to engage kids and families in all that encompasses STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The week kicks off with its largest event, EXPO Day (March 5th), at PETCO Park. EXPO Day is free and open to the public. Hundreds of community businesses and organizations will participate in EXPO Day in addition to over 60 programs and events that will follow throughout the week all throughout the county of San Diego. More than 75,000 kids, parents, teachers, industry leaders and community members are anticipated to attend during Festival Week.