MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA’s Ames Research Center will host its first Education Day in conjunction with Yuri’s Night from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT on Friday, April 9, 2010. School children from grades 4-12 will be invited to participate in this free learning event.

Education Day supports NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) informal education principles by providing interactive learning activities through exhibits, workshops and presentations given by leading scientists, engineers and technology experts. Building on the multiple universes theme, students will be able to explore different learning dimensions based on grade level.

“It’s a way for NASA Ames to reach out to the young people in our area who have an innate curiosity about the way things work and fuel that passion so that they can become the next generation of scientists, astronauts and engineers,” said S. Pete Worden, director of NASA Ames.

The integrated event consists of Education Day April 9, 2010, and Yuri’s Night April 10, 2010. Yuri’s Night is a 12-hour celebration of space exploration with music, dance and technology that commemorates the anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961 and the first space shuttle mission 20 years later.

Speakers on Education Day include representatives from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, the Kepler mission and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) mission, as well as a guest speaker from the Alliance for Climate Education. Also featured will be a digital painting demonstration by video game artist Andrew Jones and a workshop linking vinyl record scratches to science by DJ Qbert.

NASA Ames exhibits include a 3-D Mars panorama, a hands-on rocket launch activity, a lunar display, an infrared astronomy exhibit and a Kepler mission display, along with exhibits from Google Earth, Zero Gravity Arts Consortium, California Academy of Sciences, Loco Bloco, Wonderfest, Aerospace Education Specialists and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. NASA educational programs help the agency attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, disciplines critical to space exploration.

For more information about NASA’s education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

For more information about Education Day, visit: http://ynba.org/

For more information about NASA Ames, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ames/