Ute Knowledge on blue background with colorful geometric pattern below Next to that is a male elder from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe standing in front of an Native American pictograph, placing his hand in the air while explaining Ute culture and knowledge.

Traveling Exhibition

Ute Knowledge: Colorado’s Original Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

This versatile, flexible exhibition tells the story of how Ute Indians have used science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to survive and thrive in the Rocky Mountains. The Ute people are Colorado’s longest continuous residents, and they have thrived here through their deep understanding of, and connection to, the Colorado landscape and environment. 

Colorful pop-up banners include information on Ute homelands and traditional ecological knowledge, and include quotes and photos of Ute elders and youth. The exhibition also includes a video monitor with nine films highlighting collaborative fieldwork to study Ute shelters, ethnobotany and rock art. In the videos, Ute elders, Ute youth, and scientists discuss the connections between Ute knowledge and STEM.

Four hands-on activities provide an opportunity to make connections between Ute traditions and science, technology, engineering, and math, and to understand how Ute people solved problems in the past and still do today. Visitors can engineer a stick shelter, create a beadwork pattern, test woven materials, and match plants with their uses.

What’s Included?

  • 4 hands-on activities:
    • Plant science: spin to find out traditional and scientific perspectives on plants
    • Basket technology: test different types of basket weaves
    • Wickiup engineering: build a model of a Ute structure
    • Beadwork math: create a larger pattern
  • 6 pop-up banners
  • 1 touch screen video monitor and player with 9 educational videos
  • 4 collapsible wooden tables
  • Template for press release, and artwork for poster or website
  • Installation manual and installation video
  • Copy of Nuu-ciu Strong: A Colorado Fourth Grade Resource Guide

Space Recommendations

Approximately 300–500 square feet or a space 10 feet by 30 feet. The exhibition is designed for flexible use in a classroom, library, lobby, or other area and there are no environmental requirements.

Installation Requirements

  • Takes just 1–2 hours to set up. Best with two people, but can be installed by one person
  • One typical power outlet to plug in the video monitor
  • Tools needed are provided in the kit
  • Does not require blank walls

Lease Terms

Base rental fee is $1,000. Affiliate members get a 15% discount. Click here to join the Affiliates Network. Lease term is 12 weeks, including one week for installation and one week for de-installation.

Transportation Fee

There is no transportation fee if the hosting organization picks up and returns the exhibition to History Colorado Center in Denver at scheduled times. The exhibition is designed specifically to fit in a SUV or personal pickup truck with a cover. 

Check Exhibition Availability→

Want to rent this exhibition?

Contact Leah Androne at leah.androne@state.co.us
for more information.

View Exhibit Components→

Browse More Traveling Exhibitions→

A father stands and watches beside his young daughter while she plays with a Ute Wickiup interactive piece.
“ A male elder places his finger tips together from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe while standing in nature speaking to a group of youth students.”
In the corner of a room, the Ute Stem Traveling Exhibit displays a Beadwork interactive, along with three pop-up banners and one touch screen video monitor playing an educational video on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Three people walk around a museum in a room featuring the Ute Traveling Exhibit, while engaging in interactives and looking at educational pop-up banners.
In the corner of a room, the Ute Stem Traveling Exhibit is displayed with three educational pop-up banners, two interactive Ute Knowledge displays, and one touch screen video monitor playing a video on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Three museum visitors engage in conversation in the middle of the Utem Stem Traveling Exhibit. Displayed around them are two pop-up banners and interactive tables, and one touch screen monitor playing an educational video.

Venues that have hosted the Ute Knowledge exhibition  

  • Red Rocks Community College - Lakewood and Arvada campuses
  • Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center
  • Rocky Mountain Biological Institute 
  • Summit Historical Society
  • Southern Ute Indian Museum
  • Kwiyagat Community Academy 
  • El Pueblo History Museum 
  • Colorado Mountain College -Breckenridge and Leadville campuses
  • CSU SPUR 
  • Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
  • Tread of Pioneers Museum 

Project History

The materials in the exhibit are part of the Ute STEM Project, a collaboration between the three Ute Tribes, History Colorado, archaeologists, and ethnobotanists.  The Ute STEM Project explored the integration of Western science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and Ute traditional ecological knowledge in full consultation with the three Ute tribes - the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The project included field work, programs, exhibits and films, and built on over 20 years of collaboration between the three Ute Indian Tribes, scientists, and History Colorado museums. The project started in 2016 and finished in 2022, and was funded by the National Science Foundation. Click here for more information on the project website.

Ute Knowledge Exhibit Components Infographic

    Click here to see exhibition availability→