Media representatives are invited to experience a special hands-on science experience presented by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Destiny traveling science learning program, when it visits North Brunswick High School next week.
Friday (Feb. 22)
8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
9:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
North Brunswick High School
114 Scorpion Drive, Leland
Room 411
Sophomores and juniors from two of Dawn Norton’s physical science classes will perform a lab exercise called “The Crucial Concentration.” They 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, the 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.
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.
The module described above is one of 14 offered as part of Destiny’s curriculum. “The Crucial Concentration” 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.
This visit is made possible through support from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program at the National Institutes of Health. SEPA is a current principal funder of the Destiny traveling science learning program, and it has supported the development of the Brunswick Destiny partnership through providing professional development for Brunswick teachers, learning experiences for Brunswick students on board Destiny’s traveling science laboratories and in the classroom, and activities to engage and inform the Brunswick community about science education.
Destiny’s other current principal funders are the state of North Carolina, GlaxoSmithKline and the N.C. Biotechnology Center. Additional support comes from Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medtronic Inc.
The Brunswick County School System provides the high-tech equipment that makes these laboratory experiences in North Brunswick High School science classrooms possible.
Created by Carolina in 2000, Destiny became a program of UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in 2006.
Destiny Web site: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
Destiny contact: Claire Ruocchio, (919) 843-5915, clr@unc.edu
Brunswick County Schools contact: Robert Turner, (910) 253-2985, rturner@bcswan.net
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu