Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard Discovery, one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when it visits Pine Forest High School, South View High School and Massey Hill Classical High School next week.
Tuesday (Oct. 16)
10:30 a.m. to noon
2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Pine Forest High School
525 Andrews Road, Fayetteville
Students from one of Renie Johnston’s advanced placement biology classes and one of her biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “Case of the Crown Jewels.” Students will assume the role of forensic scientists and perform DNA restriction analysis (popularly known as DNA fingerprinting) to analyze drops of “blood” and other kinds of evidence found at crime scenes as they determine which suspects are guilty or innocent.
Wednesday (Oct. 17)
8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
12:34 p.m. to 1:54 p.m.
South View High School
4184 Elk Road, Hope Mills
Students from two of Tracie Roseberry’s advanced placement biology classes will also perform “Case of the Crown Jewels.”
Thursday (Oct. 18)
7:30 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.
9:15 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Massey Hill Classical High School
1062 Southern Ave., Fayetteville
Students from one of Constance Russell’s advanced placement biology classes and one of her biology classes will also perform “Case of the Crown Jewels.”
The Destiny traveling science learning program is a science education outreach initiative of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill that serves pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. Destiny develops and delivers a standards-based, hands-on curriculum and teacher professional development with a team of educators and a fleet of vehicles that travel throughout the state.
Destiny and Discovery, two custom-built, 40-foot, 33,000-pound buses, bring the latest science and technology equipment to students who otherwise would not see a high-tech laboratory or what a career in science can offer. The module described above is one of 14 offered as part of Destiny’s curriculum. “Case of the Crown Jewels” is developed from a Boston University School of Medicine CityLab module. All of Destiny’s modules are aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.
Current principal funders are the State of North Carolina, the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program in the National Center for Research Resources, and GlaxoSmithKline. Additional support comes from Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medtronic, Inc.
The science buses are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education. The Destiny program first hit the road in 2000.
Destiny Web site: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
Destiny contact: Claire Ruocchio, (919) 843-5915 or clr@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415 or susan_houston@unc.edu