Plenty of fun nouns come up during talk of technology - computers, iPhones, GPS.

Grinding stones?

Well, it was technology for Native American tribes 500 years ago, pointed out Warren Seyler, former chair of the Spokane Tribal Council, on Tuesday morning.

"This is all the technology they had to work with," Seyler said, speaking in the Harbor Center in Coeur d'Alene, where he hefted an elongated stone that was rounded at the bottom.

An overview of tribal life and ancient survival accoutrements was part of this week's Environment of Our Community Camp, put on through the University of Idaho Coeur d'Alene.

The program provides science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities for Kootenai County and Eastern Washington children, some of them Coeur d'Alene and Spokane tribal members.

Speaking to roughly 30 elementary and middle school kids, Seyler described how regional tribes once used stones to grind and prepare food, weigh down casting nets and, of course, grind other stones into still more tools.

"This technology is probably 1,000 years old," he said as held up a stone notched to attach to fishing nets.

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe also used awls, like needles, he said, noting that the tool is the source of the city's name.

Coeur d'Alene means heart of the awl, he noted, or eye of the needle.

He passed around a palm-sized rock with two marble-sized holes, used for filing arrows.

"This is kind of like your sandpaper, to make something smooth," Seyler said.

Emphasizing that tribes were reliant on local lakes and rivers, he encouraged kids to drop their texting on Tuesday evening to find areas fit for tribal style camping.

It's important to understand the first people to populate the region, Seyler said.

"I say I'm with the Spokane Tribe, and people ask, 'Oh, and what tribe is that?'" he said. "These are people who live in Spokane and they don't realize the city was named after the tribe."

Izzie Romagnolo, a student at Woodland Middle School, said she enjoyed hearing about the history of the land.

"I'm like a history geek," the 11-year-old said.

Reflecting on what tribal life was like hundreds of years ago, "I would not survive," she said with a laugh.

"I like my DS," Romagnolo said of her handheld game console. "I can't live without it."

Shoshanna Martin, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and student at the Coeur d'Alene Tribal School, said she thinks past tribal members must have been brave to live such rugged lifestyles.

"People say they suffered for us, but they survived for us," the 13-year-old said.

Anne Kern, U of I professor of curriculum and instruction, said the presentation tied into the STEM theme by teaching that technology includes more than just computers.

It's crucial to teach tribal history to all the children in the area, Kern added.

"Particularly for the tribal students, their history is getting lost," she said. "And I think when we all live here, what's important is the place, and the place we live in has a huge, rich history, culture, whatever. And for us to understand, it really it makes us understand and makes us care about the place."