-[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)