Media Advisory

Northern Vance high school students
to get hands-on lesson aboard UNC's science bus

Media representatives are invited to climb aboard Discovery, one of the buses in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Destiny science learning program, as it travels to Northern Vance High School in Henderson next week.

Tuesday (Nov. 7)
8:00 a.m. to 9:35 a.m.
1:35 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Northern Vance High School
293 Warrenton Road, Henderson
Students from two of Justyn Spencer'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 module described above is 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 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 contact: Claire Bury, (919) 843-5915 or bury@unc.edu
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596 or becky_oskin@unc.edu