Celebrate Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s 40th Anniversary Year!

San Diego, CA—March 8, 2013—The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center has supported the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering since its inception in 2009. We're excited to announce that in 2013 the Festival is being produced by BIOCOM Institute in partnership with UC San Diego and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The week-long festival kicks off with Balboa Park Science Family Day on Saturday, March 16, and culminates with the grand finale, Expo Day, on Saturday, March 23, at PETCO Park. Don't miss a moment!

Now in its fifth year, the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering occurs every March and features eight days of interactive demonstrations, hands-on activities and dynamic speakers. Its mission is to engage and encourage kids in science and engineering and to work with parents and teachers to inspire today's students to become tomorrow's science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) innovators. The Festival draws more than 60,000 people to their events—including 27,000 to Expo Day at PETCO Park—as well as thousands of individuals from San Diego and around the globe to its website and social media outlets, providing a perfect venue to engage with the general public. More information is available at www.sdsciencefestival.com.

Science Family Day in Balboa Park on Saturday, March 16, is the kick-off to the Festival and is a park-wide event. On Science Family Day, the Fleet will be offering free gallery admission or $9.50 gallery + 1 theater show admission for children 12 and under, accompanied by a paying adult all day, 10AM–7PM. Activities will go 11AM–3PM inside the Fleet and are included with admission––come play for FREE with the whole family! Activities inside the Fleet include Rocky Landing, where visitors can attempt to design and create their own parachute and container that will safely land cargo on the rocky terrain target (kids 6+ & adults, Tinkering Studio). At Space Rock Detective, the youngest aspiring astronauts and geologists will have the opportunity to use their sleuthing skills and simple tools of magnets, scales and magnifying glasses to see if they can discover if the rocks they uncover are ordinary Earth rocks or meteorites from outer space (kids 5 and under, Little Learners Lab in Kid City). As special guests, Correia Middle School’s FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics team, the Robo Chicks, will be conducting demos of their creations onsite. This park-wide event includes tons of fun outdoors on the Prado. Park visitors at our booth can investigate impacts at CRASH! BOOM! How are craters formed—on Earth and on the Moon? Is there a relationship between the mass or velocity of the impactor and crater size? Discover the answers for yourself!

Chem geek bonus––be the first to see our new Origins of Life exhibit debuting that day! Science and art intersect where glass tubing, gas bottles, bubbling liquids and zapping electricity form a working science experiment and a work of art. The famous experiments carried out by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey at the University of Chicago in the 1950s are reimagined as a functional art installation that asks the question: Could life still be originating on Earth today?

Challenge yourself and those around you by debunking myths and misconceptions about science with two of the foremost—and fun—people on the subject as the Festival continues at the Fleet on Thursday, March 21, 6PM–7:30PM. A dynamic workshop, "Theory Does Not Mean What You Think It Means!" led by Dr. Kiki Sanford and Dr. Stanley Maloy, is for anyone looking to better understand some of the misconceptions behind science and how students learn. Dr. Kiki is a neurophysiologist, independent science writer and journalist, and Dr. Maloy is dean of the College of Science at SDSU. There is no cost to attend, but you must register at: http://www.sdsciencefestival.com/kids/festival-week/science-misconceptions.

The Festival runs through Expo Day at PETCO Park on Saturday, March 23! Science and engineering take over and are expected to draw more than 20,000 kids of all ages and their families to interact with hundreds of activities, enjoy shows and talk to scientists and engineers. Come visit the Fleet booth––it's fun, it's free and it's chock full of science. We'll have fascinating science activities for all ages (even preschoolers!) and super science giveaways! Don't miss our stage show, Fire and Ice—it ends with a BANG!

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is located at 1875 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101. Gallery Admission, including access to all eight exhibit galleries, is $11.75 for adults; $9.75 for children & seniors. The Fleet is open 365 days a year; Monday–Thursday 10AM–5PM, Friday & Saturday 10AM–7PM and Sunday 10AM–6PM.  For more information, call (619) 238-1233 or visit our website athttp://www.rhfleet.org/scitech.

Detailed Activity Schedule:

Saturday, March 16: Balboa Park Science Family Day

11AM–3PM, inside the Fleet:

Tinkering Studio: Can your creation survive a rocky landing? Design and create a parachute and container that will safely land on rocky terrain. The Fleet provides the supplies and visitors contribute their imagination and innovation to creatively use and repurpose materials to ensure their cargo parachutes to safety. For kids six and up, teens and adults.

Kid City: Young aspiring astronauts and geologistswill have the opportunity to use their sleuthing skills to see if they can find rocks that are out of this world. Using simple tools like magnets, scales and magnifying glasses, kids will become space rock detectives and discover if the rocks they uncover are ordinary Earth rocks or meteorites from outer space. For children ages five and under.

Community Forum: Test-drive a solar-powered robot, designed by the Robo Chicks, a FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team. Have questions about robotics? Team members from the Robo Chicks will be on hand to answer them! For kids six and up, teens, and adults.

11AM–3PM, on the Prado:

CRASH! BOOM! How are craters formed—on Earth and on the Moon? Is there a relationship between the mass or velocity of the impactor and crater size? Fleet volunteers will help you discover the answers as you experiment with making your own impact craters. Suitable for all ages.

10AM–7PM, inside the Fleet:

Science & art intersect in new “Origins of Life” exhibit––glass tubing, gas bottles, bubbling liquids and zapping electricity form a working science experiment & a work of art! The famous experiments carried out by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey at the University of Chicago in the 1950s are re-imagined as a functional art installation. The early experiments simulated the chemical and energetic conditions of the early Earth, 4 billion years ago, resulting in the production of a number of organic molecules necessary for the origin of life. We now consider whether changing sea and atmosphere conditions will yield not only amino acids, but nucleic acids, too—the building blocks of genetic information and sources of cellular energy. Could life still be originating on earth today? An EAGER (Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research) project to conduct ongoing experiments on the chemical precursors to life. The staff and a core group of volunteers will be available for interpretation of the exhibit and answering visitors’ questions; and they will also collect samples and record data as the experiment is run––a new challenge!

Thursday, March 21: "Theory Does Not Mean What You Think It Means!" 6PM–7:30PM

Saturday, March 23: Expo Day at Petco Park; 10AM–5PM

Please contact Susan ASAP if you would like to join us for media coverage, so we can discuss how best you can help get the word out – we are available for live remotes and in-studio appearances!

# # #

Celebrate the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s 40th Anniversary Year With Us!

Forty years ago, a spark ignited our imaginations!  March 9, 2013, kicks off a year-long celebration of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and its 40 years of success in bringing hands-on science to our San Diego community. Forty years ago, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center opened its doors and brought interactive exhibits and the world’s first IMAX® Dome Theater to San Diego. Today, the Fleet inspires minds and connects individuals to science and technology through more than 100 “do touch” exhibits for all ages and amazing IMAX films and planetarium shows in the recently renovated Heikoff Giant Dome Theater. Enjoy our year-long celebration, featuring a blockbuster exhibition, incredible events and dynamic educational experiences.