Science Fun Factory | Science Fun Factory & More | Nebraska Stories | Nebraska Public Media

-[Children] Three, two, one! (children laughing) (children laughing) -[Narrator] There's a lot of teaching and learning happening here, disguised as fun. (children talking indistinctly) (upbeat music) This is the Kiewit Luminarium, built as a place for curious humans. Built in a newly developed area on the banks of the Missouri River, it's 82,000 square feet of hands-on STEM exhibits and activities that opened in the spring of 2023. -[Silva] Omaha was one of the few metros in the country of this size that did not have a science center. It's a pretty special place. It was designed, purpose-built, very collaboratively created with the community to be a place for everyone can come and explore scientific phenomena, which sounds intimidating. It's really all around us, we're part of it, it's nature, and sort of explore those phenomena in a very special way that is different from the way we usually encounter science and math. It's an experience that you are the driver of. (upbeat music) -[Narrator] It's a place where you can change the flow of a stream, make music together, test how fingertip sweat shows inner feelings. -[Guest] Describe the last time you cried. -[Narrator] Build a machine to topple dominoes, and more. 125 interactive exhibits created from research about how people learn. -[Jessica] So we connected the generator into the lights and the lights back to the generator. And that's a closed loop, right? -[Narrator] Jessica Johnson is a parent and homeschool teacher for her kids. -[Jessica] Yeah, we really enjoy coming here. I really enjoy science. My degree is in science from when I went to college, and so getting to share that with my kids is a lot of fun. Oh, this is very valuable. It's a lot of hands-on experience that I can't give necessarily, at home. (child screaming, laughing) -[Silva] The experiences are framed up in a way that it doesn't matter whether you're seven years old or 75 years old, whether you have a Nobel Laureate in physics or whether you're someone self-described who doesn't like science and math. because it's about framing up something that's engaging and kind of either visually delightful or curious and then giving you the keys to kind of ask and answer your own questions. (upbeat music) We're not telling you how to think about something, we're giving you an opportunity to explore, gather your own evidence and kind of come to your own conclusions about it. (upbeat music) -[Narrator] Omaha's Luminarium is modeled after San Francisco's Exploratorium. The Luminarium was actually created as part of a collaborative effort to expand what the Exploratorium has done for more than 50 years, to reimagine science museums. Raker came here from the Exploratorium to help launch the Luminarium. (upbeat music) - Yes, very much it flows from, but there's also some really important differences. -[Narrator] Like the role of these folks called Luminators. - Hi everybody, welcome. Is this our first cow eye dissection? -[Narrator] A concept expanded from what happens in San Francisco with young people, ages 15 to 25 hired to help with almost every aspect of the operation. -[Suleyma] Luminators are stationed everywhere in the Luminarium, so we're the first face that you see when you come check in. We have a pretty good extensive knowledge of each exhibit and we also run demonstrations, we facilitate them. And we explore different areas of science within those demonstrations. High five, down low, you kind of got it. -[Narrator] This is a perception goggles demonstration. -[Suleyma] As soon as you put them on and your brain gets adjusted to them, it becomes familiar with this new environment that you're putting it in. And after a while you get used to it and then when you take them off, you are in another new environment that you have to quickly adjust to. So we try to explain to them that that's basically how our minds work with everything else. And then that was you getting adjusted to it, so you- -[Narrator] Luminators are most of the staff here, hired to represent a diverse population. If you have any questions, just listen to somebody with a blue vest, okay? -[Guest] Thank you very much. -[Braxton] They talk about science, technology, engineering, and math. So the good thing about it too, is that when you come and you see our Luminator Program, it's a very diverse group of people. And so for me to be able to come into a place and feel represented, I think does amplify the interaction that you have with guests. (upbeat music) -[Narrator] It's very new, a work in progress like the riverfront development it sits on, but the Luminarium is a place with lofty aspirations, to be a place that will activate and engage a community, especially populations who may not have easy access to resources like this and be underrepresented in STEM careers. -[Suleyma] With the Luminarium, we're closing that gap of, being scared of the unknown and just fostering safer environment for people to explore and learn new things, -[Silva] The experiences, our staff, our pricing model, everything, it's really in the DNA of the place to say, "How do we engineer for a different outcome "that actually gets folks from all different backgrounds "in here and engage them, and then hopefully in a flow "that changes a lot of things, "cycles of generational poverty, "but also creating a really robust workforce." -[Braxton] I hope that it just sparks ideas for young people. (upbeat music)