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Updated January 3, 2012
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.

Dare County
Manteo High School
829 Wingina Ave., Manteo
Thursday (Jan. 5)
9:09–10:17 a.m.
11:15 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
Pat Holland's biology students will conduct “Get a Clue / Case of the Crown Jewels.” Students 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.

Lee County
Southern Lee High School
2301 Tramway Road, Sanford
Wednesday (Jan. 4)
11:20 a.m.–12:55 p.m.
1:20–3 p.m.
Thursday (Jan. 5)
8–9:35 a.m.
Donna Ansted's biology students will conduct “From Finches to Fishes.” Students learn the fundamental principles of evolution and natural selection. They use protein gel electrophoresis to acquire molecular data with which they construct an evolutionary tree for five fish species. They 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.

Washington County
Plymouth High School
800 E. Main St., Plymouth
Friday (Jan. 6)
9:35–11 a.m.
Alma Phifer's biology students will conduct “From Finches to Fishes,” 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 Hudson, (919) 962-8415, susan_hudson@unc.edu

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