The first annual Seattle Science Festival kicks off on Saturday, June 2, 2012 with the FREE Science Expo event.
Where: Seattle Center
When: June 2, 2012 from 10am-6pm
What: LOTS of amazing science exhibits
Click HERE to visit the Seattle Science Festival site and HERE to download a full program and HERE to download a Science Festival app for your smartphone. It should be a grand event with lots of options for the whole family.
The Center for Inquiry Science (here in Seattle, WA) has a wonderful resource for supporting community understanding of effective science instruction and instructional materials- Celebrating Science: A Family Science Project. The guide provides tools and resources for:
elementary learners to develop as scientific thinkers. 
As of June 2, 2011 The National Academies Press (NAP) has made all of their publications (over 4,000!) available FREE as downloadable pdfs. In terms of science education this means that you can now get (and share) some excellent research and reports on effective science education. Read the NAP press describing release HERE.
I personally recommend the following as “must haves”:
Ready, Set, Science What types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding? What do science educators teachers, teacher leaders, science specialists, professional development staff, curriculum designers, school administrators need to know to create and support such experiences?
Taking Science to School What is science for a child? How do children learn about science and how to do science? Drawing on a vast array of work from neuroscience to classroom observation, Taking Science to School provides a comprehensive picture of what we know about teaching and learning science from kindergarten through eighth grade. By looking at a broad range of questions, this book provides a basic foundation for guiding science teaching and supporting students in their learning.
Surrounded by Science Practitioners in informal science settings–museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens–are interested in finding out what learning looks like, how to measure it, and what they can do to ensure that people …
How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the best-selling How People Learn. Now these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even …
How People Learn: Bridging Research and PracticeHow People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice provides a broad overview of research on learners and learning and on teachers and teaching. It expands on the 1999 National Research Council publication How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Expanded …
What other FREE publications from NAP will you be downloading?
Science Learning Outside the Classroom is a supplement to the April 6, 2011 issue of Education Week with nine articles related to informal science education. You can read the issue online or download the pdf HERE
Posted in informal science, K-12 General Science, STEM
Science for All 