Media Advisory

UNC's Destiny traveling science learning program
to visit Salemburg students this week

Media representatives are invited to climb aboard Destiny, one of the traveling science laboratories from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Destiny science learning program, for a hand-on science lesson when it visits Lakewood High School this week.

Wednesday (Jan. 10)
9:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
1:25 p.m. to 2:55 p.m.
Lakewood High School
245 Lakewood School Road, Salemburg

During the visit, students from Chris Williams' anatomy and physics and environmental science classes will perform a lab exercise called "Biological Bodyguards." Students will examine the vital role that the body's immune system takes to fight illness and prevent disease. Assuming the role of medical lab technicians, students will use a simulated viral extract and perform an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to screen hypothetical patients for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

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. 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 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. The Destiny program 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