“Look at the bug dance!” said a young boy as he placed the solar powered bug under an incandescent light. “He takes a nap now!” he said after placing the same bug under a fluorescent light. He may not be old enough to understand the words, but he just learned a lesson in infrared energy.
“Did you hear me? What did I say?” said members of the Walton Family. They took turns trying on the special “big ears” experiment. The family learned that some animals, like dogs, with funnel style ears can hear distant sounds. Their ears point in one direction and collect sound just like a lens collects light. On Saturday, the Walton Family got to hear just like those animals, and it was as if they gained a new superpower.
These lessons were taught by Merle “Misty” Brave and Jesse Pina, professors from Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. They brought their Little Shop of Physics to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument last Saturday March 16th in celebration of Science Education Day.
This was the second year the duo provided science fun at the monument. The Little Shop of Physics uses resources originally developed by Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Brian Jones, director and founder of the program at CSU, worked with OLC professors to set up their own program over a decade ago and has been partnered with them ever since. “The big message is that science is accessible,” Jones said. “The stuff we do is exciting, it’s fun, it’s engaging.”
“The relationship between Agate Fossil Beds and the Oglala Lakota tribe goes back to long before the monument was established,” Tera Lynn Gray, Lead Interpretive Ranger, explained. “In 1875, the young owner of Agate Springs Ranch, James H. Cook, met the Oglala chief Red Cloud at Fort Robinson. The chief was questioning the American paleontologist O.C. Marsh about his activities in the Black Hills. Since Mr. Cook knew some of the Lakota language and Plains Indian Sign Language, he was able to interpret for them.”
The National Park Service now preserves and interprets the gifts exchanged between the Red Cloud and Cook families over the following decades and the fossils Cook found at his ranch at the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 34 miles north of Mitchell, Nebraska.
“This event was just one way Agate tries to maintain and grow that friendship started between Cook and Red Cloud so long ago,” Gray said.
Agate Fossil Beds has a line-up of several other free, great events this summer. Find these and more on the park’s website at https://www.nps.gov/agfo/planyourvisit/calendar.htm.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is located 34 miles north of Mitchell, NE or 22 miles south of Harrison, NE on Highway 29 and 3 miles east on River Rd. The Visitor Center winter hours are 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and the trails are open from dawn until dusk. Visit us at www.nps.gov/agfo and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
