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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard a DESTINY traveling science laboratory during school visits next week. Through DESTINY, local students conduct laboratory experiments led by outreach educators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard a DESTINY traveling science laboratory during school visits next week. Through DESTINY, local students conduct laboratory experiments led by outreach educators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Camden County
Camden County High School
103 US Highway 158 West
Wednesday (March 2)
8 a.m.–9:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.–noon
Battina Armstrong's forensic science students will conduct “Get a Clue / 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.

Karen Sawyer's biology students will conduct “Brand Name Genes.”  Students play the role of employees in a global biotech company to understand connections between BRCA genes and breast cancer.  Students prepare a simulated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and perform gel electrophoresis to determine the presence of a simulated BRCA2 mutation.

Gates County
Gates County High School
88 US Highway 158 West
Wednesday (March 2)
11:20 a.m.–12:50 p.m.
1:25 p.m. –3 p.m.
Teri Campbell's biology students will conduct “Get a Clue / Case of the Crown Jewels,” described above.

Hertford County
Ridgecroft School
420 NC Highway 11 North
Thursday (March 3)
10:25 a.m. –11:25 a.m.
Kellie Lane's biology students will conduct “Brand Name Genes,” described above.

Perquimans County
Perquimans County High School
398 Edenton Road Street
Thursday (March 3)
8 a.m.–9:30 a.m.
9:35 a.m.–11:10 a.m.
Lynette Baker's biology students will conduct “Get a Clue / Case of the Crown Jewels,” described above.

The DESTINY Traveling Science Learning Program serves pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. DESTINY (Delivering Edge-cutting Science Technology and Internet across North Carolina for Years to come) develops and delivers standards-based, hands-on science curricula 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 buses equipped as mobile science laboratories, bring advanced science and technology equipment to students who otherwise might not see high-tech experiments or what a career in science can offer. The mobile science labs are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education.

To be eligible to request a visit from a DESTINY mobile science lab, each participating teacher must attend workshops to learn how to incorporate module activities and experiments into his or her classroom. DESTINY offers 17 different science modules, each aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The DESTINY program was created by UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000. Its principal funders are the State of North Carolina and GlaxoSmithKline, with additional support from Bio-Rad Laboratories and from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Since 2006, DESTINY has been part of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

DESTINY website: www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
DESTINY media contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952, kck@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

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