Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard Destiny and Discovery, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when they visit Northwest Guilford High School, Walter Hines Page High School, Middle College High School at Guilford Technical Community College and T. Wingate Andrews High School next week.
Tuesday (Jan. 29)
8:20 a.m. to 9:48 a.m.
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Northwest Guilford High School
5240 Northwest School Road, Greensboro
Students from two of Janet Wells’ advanced placement chemistry classes will perform a lab exercise called “Biological Bodyguards.” Students will examine the vital role that the body’s immune system takes to fight illness and prevent disease. Assuming the role of medical lab technicians, students will use a simulated viral extract and perform an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to screen hypothetical patients for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Wednesday (Jan. 30)
1:37 p.m. to 2:36 p.m.
2:41 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Walter Hines Page High School
201 Alma Pinnix Drive, Greensboro
Students from one of Jennifer Buck’s and one of Kim Smitherman’s advanced placement biology classes will also perform “Biological Bodyguards,” described above.
Thursday (Jan. 31)
1:30 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
3:20 p.m. to 4:50 p.m.
Middle College High School at Guilford Technical Community College
601 High Point Road, Jamestown
Students from two of Faith Ann Johnson’s chemistry classes will perform “The Crucial Concentration.” Students will assume the role of laboratory investigators for a court case to determine the amount of protein found in three sports drinks. Using the general concept of the Lowry assay and microanalysis skills, students will learn how to use a spectrophotometer, measure absorbencies, collect quantitative data and produce a standard curve to find the protein content in each sample.
Thursday (Jan. 31)
2:05 p.m. to 3:35 p.m.
T. Wingate Andrews High School
1920 McGuinn Drive, High Point
Students from one of one of Ken Gracz’s advanced placement biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “From Finches to Fishes.” Students will learn the fundamental principles of evolution and natural selection. Protein gel electrophoresis will be used to acquire molecular data with which students will construct an evolutionary tree for five fish species. Students will examine proteomics as the new frontier of molecular biology and its importance to understanding the structure and function of the human genome and the genomes of other organisms.
The Destiny traveling science learning program is a science education outreach initiative of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at Carolina that serves pre-college teachers and students across the state. 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 modules described above are among 14 offered as part of Destiny’s curriculum. All of Destiny’s modules are aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.
The teachers mentioned above attended workshops to learn how to incorporate these particular Destiny curriculum modules into their classrooms, which also made them eligible to request school visits from Destiny’s traveling science laboratories.
Destiny’s 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. Created by Carolina in 2000, Destiny became a program of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in 2006.
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