Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard Destiny, one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when it visits South Granville School of Engineering and Applied Studies, Northern Vance High School and Southern Vance High School next week.
Tuesday (May 13)
8:49 a.m. to 10:19 a.m.
10:23 a.m. to 11:53 a.m.
South Granville School of Engineering and Applied Studies
701 N. Crescent Drive, Creedmoor
Students from two of Deborah Gaul’s biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “Get a Clue.” They 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 (May 14)
9:50 a.m. to 11:25 a.m.
1:35 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Northern Vance High School
293 Warrenton Road, Henderson
Students from two of Justyn Phelps’ honors biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “Case of the Crown Jewels,” an earlier version of “Get a Clue.” They 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.
Thursday (May 15)
9:50 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.
11:50 a.m. to 1:25 p.m.
Southern Vance High School
925 Garrett Road, Henderson
Students from two of Wendi Leas’ honors biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “Biological Bodyguards.” They 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, the 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).
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 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 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. “Case of the Crown Jewels” was developed from a Boston University School of Medicine CityLab module.
The teachers mentioned above attended workshops to learn how to incorporate these 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, GlaxoSmithKline and the N.C. Biotechnology Center. 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 the 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
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu