Skip to main content
 

Media representatives are invited to experience the first session of GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer program in North Carolina while observing a science camp for second- to eighth-grade students from Franklin County next week. Science in the Summer in North Carolina is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and administered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. This camp, held at Youngsville Branch Library, is part of a series of nine in six counties that target science education in North Carolina. The theme for this summer’s camps is genetics.

Monday through Friday (June 16-20)
9 a.m. to noon (second- and third-grade students)
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (fourth- and fifth-grade students)
Youngsville Branch Library
218 US-1A South, Youngsville

During five-day camp sessions, 40 second- to fifth-grade students will be introduced to the concepts of genetics, traits, cell, nucleus, chromosome, genes and DNA through GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer genetics curriculum. Activities will include extracting DNA from a strawberry and making a colorful bracelet that reflects genetic traits. The students will also perform activities from the planetarium’s “Wild Things” curriculum, in which they will learn about animal behavior, habitats and how animals communicate.

Thursday (June 19)
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Youngsville Branch Library
218 US-1A South, Youngsville

During two sessions, a total of 30 sixth- to eighth-grade students will board one of UNC’s Destiny traveling laboratories. They will perform a hands-on science exercise called “Genes in a Bottle,” where they will extract DNA from their own cheek cells, and each student will leave with a necklace containing their own cheek cell DNA.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer program in North Carolina is a free science education initiative that targets science education through summer camps for second- through eighth-grade students and teacher workshops in partnership with libraries in Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Franklin and Harnett counties.

The North Carolina program follows the model of GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer program in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas, which is now entering its 22nd year and has introduced more than 92,000 children to science.

GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

Since opening in 1949, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center has welcomed more than 7 million people to learn more about science through school field trips, multimedia Star Theater shows, classes for adults and children, summer camps, guest speakers, digital films and special events.

The Destiny traveling science learning program is a science education outreach initiative of the planetarium 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. Created by Carolina in 2000, Destiny became a program of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in 2006.

Note: Reporters interested in observing the Science in the Summer camp in Youngsville should contact Claire Ruocchio, (919) 843-5915 or clr@unc.edu.

GlaxoSmithKline Web site: http://www.gsk.com
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center Web site: http://ww.moreheadplanetarium.org
Destiny Web site: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny

GlaxoSmithKline contact: Karen Brown-Tyson, (919) 483-2804
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center contact: Claire Ruocchio, (919) 843-5915, clr@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

Comments are closed.