Omniplex's name change affirms commitment to science education

One name change later, Omniplex is now known as Science Museum Oklahoma " all part of a reinvigorated mission to make the site a more vital tool for the educational community to psych children up about the subject.

"Too much of our academic process is memorization and jumping to result, but you don't know how you got there," said Don Otto, museum president. "Virtually all learning happens, particularly with young people, by being involved physically in a challenge of some sort. Kids play " that's how they learn. Science is fun "¦ but we make it boring in classrooms because they don't do science " they read about science."

NEW FOCUS
With a flurry of new projects in the pipeline, the staff felt a more universal moniker was required.

"With the museum's new focus on science, it became apparent that it needed a new name," said James Farris, chairman of the museum's board of trustees. "Omniplex is a name that's served us extremely well and most people in the state knows what it means, but when people come in from out of state, it doesn't convey what our mission really is."

Staffers are working toward making the place one of the top physical science museums in the nation, cycling out older exhibits while making newer exhibits stronger and more interactive.

"Omniplex was an eclectic, almost fuzzy idea where everything goes," Otto said. "There have been times in the past where we have set up an exhibit on the floor and just hoped that it works. That won't be the way exhibits are set up from here forward; they will be thought through from the visitor perspective." "Charles Martin

 

 

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