Media Advisory

UNC's Discovery science learning bus to visit
Beaufort, Morehead City and Newport

Media representatives are invited to climb aboard Destiny, one of the traveling science laboratories in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Destiny science learning program, when it visits high schools in Beaufort, Morehead City and Newport this week.

Tuesday (Nov. 28)
11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
1:15 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
East Carteret High School
3263 Highway 70, Beaufort
Students from two of Stephanie Sanders' biology classes will perform a lab exercise called 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.

Wednesday (Nov. 29)
7:55 a.m. to 9:25 a.m.
1:20 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
West Carteret High School
4700 Country Club Road, Morehead City
Students from two of Jackie Marsh's biology classes will perform a lab exercise called BioBusiness. Students will discover how businesses use recombinant DNA technology to tailor products to meet customers' needs. Using genetic engineering techniques, students will explore the mechanisms of gene expression and gene selection.

Thursday (Nov. 30)
10:55 a.m. to 11:25 a.m.
1:05 p.m. to 2:35 p.m.
Croatan High School
#1 Cougar Lane, Newport
Students from two of James Cutler's biology classes will perform a lab exercise called 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.

The Destiny traveling science learning program is Morehead Planetarium and Science Center's formal science education initiative serving pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. The program 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 13 offered as part of Destiny's curriculum. All of Destiny's modules are aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The science buses are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education. Destiny first hit the road in 2000.

For more information, go to http://www.destiny.unc.edu.

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Destiny contact: Claire Bury, (919) 843-5915 or bury@unc.edu
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596 or becky_oskin@unc.edu