Media Advisories UNC's Destiny traveling science program to visit Durham
| UNC's Destiny traveling science program to visit Durham |
|
| Friday, May 16, 2008 | |
|
Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard Destiny and Discovery, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when they visit Southern High School and Riverside High School next week. Tuesday (May 20) 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Southern High School 800 Clayton Road, Durham Students from two of Tammy Chance’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. Thursday (May 22) 9:10 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Riverside High School 3218 Rose of Sharon Road, Durham Students from two of Laura Roberson’s honors biology classes will perform a lab exercise called “From Finches to Fishes.” They will learn the fundamental principles of evolution and natural selection. Protein gel electrophoresis will be used to acquire molecular data with which the students will construct an evolutionary tree for five fish species. The students will 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. 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. 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 Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in 2006. Destiny Web site: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny Destiny contact: Claire Ruocchio, (919) 843-5915, , This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |