The Big Sky Brain Project

2 girls wearing upside down goggles

A partnership between the Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience (CSFN) and spectrUM Discovery Area.

From July 2012-July 2016, the Big Sky Brain Project was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with goals to increase Montana K-12 student neuroscience literacy while putting the next generation of Montanans on the fast track to careers in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math. The project included in-museum and traveling exhibits, educational programs for high school students and undergraduate students, clubs, camps, field trips and outreach. The partnership and grant funded project is discussed further in this video presented at the Association of Science Technology Centers conference in 2015. 

This grant made it possible for us to have made a huge impact reaching over 40,000 people. Be sure to check out our special events page to view photos and descriptions of all of our programming during this time. 

We have a plethora of neuroscience educational materials we developed or expanded upon so check out our page on Lesson Plans.

8 kids aged 8-12 sitting on stools in front of microscopes and educator at the Brain Lab

The next iteration

Our science museum is moving to a newly designed and larger space that will better meet our community's growing demand for spectrUM's signature hands-on science experiences. Our most popular neuroscience related activities and museum exhibits have been incorporated into our "Health Nook" area of the museum. You'll also find that most of the activities that were normally performed at the BrainLab bench are now incorporated into the calendar of activities performed at the Discovery Bench.