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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard Discovery, one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when it visits Eastern Guilford High School next week.

Tuesday (Jan. 15)
8:50 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.
10:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
Eastern Guilford High School
415 Peeden Drive, Gibsonville

Students from two of Cedelle Troxler’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 (Jan. 16)
8:50 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.
10:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
Eastern Guilford High School
415 Peeden Drive, Gibsonville

Students from two of Caroline Kinlaw’s biology classes will also perform “Get a Clue,” described above.

The Destiny traveling science learning program is a science education outreach initiative of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill 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 module described above is one of 14 offered as part of Destiny’s curriculum. All of Destiny’s modules are aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The above mentioned teachers attended teacher workshops to learn how to incorporate “Get a Clue” into their classrooms, which also made them eligible to request school visits from the Destiny 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, and GlaxoSmithKline. 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 UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in 2006.

Destiny Web site: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny

Destiny contacts: Claire Ruocchio, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it