Media Advisory

Siler City, Fayetteville and Saxapahaw students
to hop aboard UNC's science learning bus

Media representatives are invited to board Discovery, one of the buses in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Destiny science learning program, this week as it travels to high schools in Siler City, Fayetteville and Saxapahaw.

Tuesday (Oct. 10)
9:50 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.
Jordan-Matthews High School
910 East Cardinal Street, Siler City
Two of Victoria Raymond's 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.

Wednesday (Oct. 11)
9 a.m. to 10:24 a.m.
Massey Hill Classical High School
1062 Southern Avenue, Fayetteville
One of Constance Russell'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.

Thursday (Oct. 12)
8:40 a.m. to 10:10 a.m.; 12:50 p.m. to 2:20 p.m.
New Century Charter School
1735 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road, Saxapahaw
Students from Norma Johnson's physical science and biology classes will perform a lab exercise called "Get a Clue." 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 the 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 Crucial Concentration" was developed by Boston University School of Medicine CityLab.

The science bus is a powerful visual image that heightens 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 science learning contact: Claire Bury, (919) 843-5915 or bury@unc.edu
(Claire Bury will be on site for the Oct. 10 Siler City visit. She can be reached by cell phone at (919) 923-1815.)
News Services contact: Kyle York, (919) 962-8415 or kyle_york@unc.edu