Blackfeet students receive NASA science kits

Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (1) – 8/14/20

Through a program that promotes STEM education, the Academic Technology and Outreach department at Montana State University recently delivered 500 NASA science kits to students on the Blackfeet Reservation. The kit’s theme is inspired by the NASA Mars rover called Perseverance, which searches for signs of life and collects rock and soil samples. Fitting with this theme, each kit includes eight “missions” with an accompanying activity such as collecting rock specimens, using bug boxes to gather and examine “signs of life” in their neighborhoods and an astronomical calendar to stargaze. Jamie Cornish, outreach specialist for ATO said that the kits intentionally blend Western science with traditional Blackfeet science—the geology rock-collecting mission incorporates Blackfeet words for different geological terms and the astronomical calendar also includes traditional Blackfeet stories of stars and phases of the moon.