CLEVELAND, Ohio – A scientific sensory avalanche tumbles at visitors in the Great Lakes Science Center – interactive activities, sounds and experiments at every turn.

But the best example of what the museum is all about is a creative periodic table.

Periodic tables in chemistry classes take on the flat tired list of symbols that stare back at students year after year. But at the science center in Cleveland, the symbols open a door to discoveries – literally.

Behind the symbols is just that, tiny doors. Several contain examples of the symbol they represent. Pull open the door for aluminum, for instance, and you will see a soda can. Swing open calcium and there’s a piece of chalk. Iron? A miniature statue of the Eiffel Tower, which is made of iron.

It’s a perfect example of what the whole place is about. It’s more than a museum; it’s an educational learning center that stands as one of several focal points and tourism draws downtown. It’s hitting the rare dual feat of entertaining and educating the roughly 300,000 visitors who cross through its doors to touch, examine and learn from its exhibits every year.

This year marks 25 years in its home by Lake Erie, what its leaders deem as Cleveland’s best backyard view. It’s proud to be a staple among the city’s cultural institutions that make up its neighborhood. And it continues to evolve, especially with interaction and education.

In the beginning

In the 1970s and ‘80s, downtown Cleveland was in a little bit of a slump, as communications director Joe Yachanin said.

An understatement to many, but true: Not much was thriving in the area where the center is located – Cleveland Municipal Stadium and the famed Captain Frank’s restaurant – “that was pretty much it,” he said.

Discussions about creating a science center began in the early 1980s, when a feasibility study was conducted. Then, in 1985, North Coast Harbor Inc. was incorporated to oversee development of some of Cleveland’s lakefront, stretching roughly from the Port of Cleveland to East 9th Street.

By 1990 a board formed to oversee creation of the science center. Originally, it was housed in a bank up the road from 1991 to 1996. It almost went into the International Exposition Center.

Massachusetts-based VernerJohnson – which bills itself as the nation’s only architectural firm specializing in the planning and design of museums – designed the center.

In early 1991, Richard E. Coyne – a lawyer with a forte for fundraising – was hired as director of the science center after serving as head of Science Place in Dallas for a decade. In the first six months of 1994, the science center drew $14 million from 15 corporations, four regional foundations and the state, adding to coffers with a $55 million target.

The 1990s are often referred to as a renaissance in Cleveland. The Gateway District, lakefront development, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the science center all grew up as architectural siblings.

The Rock Hall opened in 1995, a stark architectural flag-bearer for downtown and tourism. And in July 1996, the year of Cleveland’s bicentennial celebration, Great Lakes Science Center opened.

Now, the area is alive. On many days, sailboats swoon by, the anchored William G. Mather steamship stands majestically, the Rock Hall continues to bring in tourists. Condominiums went up, as did Nuevo Modern Mexican and Tequila Bar. The neighborhood keeps growing as the science center keeps evolving.

As the center’s president and chief executive officer Kirsten Ellenbogen says: “It’s still an ongoing process.”

Evolving with ‘dwell time’ and engaging experiences

The process and exhibits change, but there’s been consistency with leadership, which often translates to a more focused vision for any organization. Coyne retired in 2004. Linda Abraham Silver led the center for almost eight years, and Ellenbogen came aboard in 2013.

The backing of business leaders was and is important, but kids remain a priority as well as the motivation for what the center does.

“We’re a partnership to make sure the jobs of tomorrow have the best and brightest of Northeast Ohio,” Ellenbogen said.

She added that problem solvers are a dime a dozen.

What’s needed, she said, are “problem identifiers.”

Embracing curiosity and learning is a hallmark of the center. Its website recently posted sage advice from Albert Einstein: “The important thing is to never stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

That’s why the science center tries to get across to visitors what going to the moon is like without taking the trip. In one part of the center, you can look up and see actual landing bags from a Mars rover; Great Lakes Science Center is one of the few places to have them.

“It’s crazy some of the artifacts we have,” Ellenbogen said.

The center, Yachanin added, is a “congressionally designated NASA visitor center.”

Through visual expressions of science, kids can gain an understanding of what it takes to create, build or do something. An automotive “diagnostic testing center” offers a hands-on visual lesson for kids to learn about a car’s engine through play – what’s this do, how about that?

The center also emphasizes “active prolonged exhibits.” These are trial-and-error constructive games and challenges designed to have “many, many outcomes,” Ellenbogen said.

This is where science and creativity come together – like building a car to race down a track, then rebuilding it to gain speed. A kid might not know the mathematical principles behind velocity, but he or she can figure out basic aerodynamics in this area.

Ellenbogen said it’s called “dwell time.”

“The more you get someone to engage in an iterative way so that they are doing it again and again and again, the deeper the learning is,” she said.

It’s an evolved approach from years ago, when visitors would simply push a button, listen or see something, and move on in a museum. With this approach, the visitor is controlling an experiment. And, Yachanin said, it’s something the whole family can do.

The challenge for museum officials is that it cannot be too difficult, or visitors walk away. It has to hit the right level of challenge.

“This is where we’re headed,” Ellenbogen said. “Not all of our exhibits will be active prolonged exhibits, but we want these to dot across our exhibition galleries so when people come, they are deeply engaged.”

Another part of the center’s evolution involved the Omnimax theater and its 270-degree screen that brought science, nature and history to larger-than-life experiences. Plans had called for a 79-foot screen and 36 speakers.

But it had a lifespan. In 2016, the center was the first place to convert such a giant screen theater to digital.

Also, a new-emerging technology exhibit is as engaging as it sounds. Card games teach variables, kids learn to program a Fitbit, robots can be programmed. They even move into understanding blockchain – which is good, so they can teach that to adults.

And the center is home to day campers who have worlds open up to them. Scholarship support for the camp includes funding for early dropoff or late pickup, as well as breakfast and lunch, so the experience is “truly comprehensive,” Ellenbogen said.

That comprehension ranges from wind to music and beyond.

A wind turbine was installed about 15 years ago, and while it yields only about 7 percent of the center’s electrical use, it serves as an educational example of an alternative power source. Meanwhile, outdoor summer music concerts were added a year ago.

Speaking of music, the center maintains a good relationship with its neighbor, the Rock Hall, Yachanin and Ellenbogen said. While design plans do not include a connector between the two entities, she said, other projects are possible. After a recent meeting with a landscape architect, Ellenbogen said, “there’s terrific potential to use the landscaping to make a connection between us and make it feel like a museum campus. We’re really excited about it.”

She added: “There’s a real history of the rock hall and the science center having transparency. The CEO of the science center is always on the rock hall board, and the CEO of the rock hall is always on the science center board.” That symbiotic relationship dates more than a decade, she said.

Making the (scientific) grade

Another relationship the center maintains is with students.

In 2008, the MC2STEM High School opened. The Cleveland public school is the result of a public-private partnership that emphasizes learning over testing. When it opened, it was the region’s only STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) school that didn’t have a testing requirement.

The science center is home to about 100 ninth-graders while 10th graders are in Cuyahoga Community College and 11th and 12th graders attend at Cleveland State University.

“When it opened it was revolutionary, and frankly I’d argue it still is,” she said.

Students work across a broad curriculum with encouragement fueling the way. Its focus is not on grades but rather on the mastery of what is being studied.

Students will immerse themselves in a variety of projects – they can build a sound-recording studio, for instance, and gain an understanding of acoustics. In English, they write lyrics and study poetry, with the words winding up as music produced in the studio.

The mission for students is crystal clear, as Ellenbogen described the directive for kids.

“Look, you may come here for a variety of reasons, but let me tell you, whoever you are, you will leave ninth grade loving science. You’ll see yourself as someone who can do science.”

She added: “You fail as a part of learning; you don’t fail the class. You keep working until you succeed.”

The center also is nimble enough to remain flexible within its neighborhood, so to speak.

The Gravity Games action-sports festival took place from 2002 to 2004, with athletes and fans dotting the area around the harbor over several days. When the NFL Draft came to Cleveland in 2021, the center moved out 75 percent of the exhibits to accommodate media and other league-related logistics. And for the annual Cleveland National Air Show over Labor Day weekend at nearby Burke Lakefront Airport, the science center holds a watch party from the deck of the Mather.

That historic steamship moved from the East 9th Street pier to Dock 32 behind the science center in 2005. A year later, its parent organization, the Harbor Heritage Society, donated it to the museum.

But at its heart, it’s about science and learning. Ellenbogen boils down a key mission when talking about the STEM school, but her point can be taken for anyone who walks through the center’s doors.

“Everybody,” she said, “can do science.”

About Great Lakes Science Center

Visitors: The center’s annual pre-coronavirus pandemic visitors average is about 300,000.

Location: 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Note: The center is closed on Cleveland Browns home game days.

Admission: $13.95 to $16.95.

Parking: Area garages.

Mather: The steamship is open September through October 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Movies: Current movies are on Ireland, sea lions, and dinosaurs of Antarctica. A separate fee is charged.

Upcoming exhibits: From Saturday, Oct. 22, to Sunday, Jan. 8, the center will offer two hands-on special exhibitions:

• “Curious George: Let’s Get Curious” – Young children will enter the world of the famed character in what is billed as a fun, interactive math-, science- and engineering-based adventure.

• “Run! Jump Fly! Adventures in Action” – Guests will rediscover the fun of being physically active in a non-competitive environment. Activities include kung fu, surfing, snowboarding, yoga and climbing. It invites guests to jump into “action star training” – play activities that build strength, coordination, balance and endurance.

Great Lakes Science Center timeline

1985 – North Coast Harbor Inc. is incorporated to oversee development of a portion of Cleveland’s lakefront.

1991 – Richard Coyne is hired as founder and first president and CEO.

1996 – Great Lakes Science Center opens.

1998 – The center surpasses 1 million visitors.

2004 – Linda Abraham Silver becomes the museum’s second president.

2005 – Science Center debuts Body Worlds 2, only the second museum in North America to host the exhibit. It would become one of the most popular exhibitions in the center’s history, drawing more than 390,000 visitors.

2005 – The historic steamship William G. Mather moves from the East 9th Street pier to Dock 32 – the center’s “back yard.” Its parent organization, the Harbor Heritage Society, donates the ship to the museum a year later.

2008 – A partnership between the center and Cleveland Municipal School District brings the ninth-grade campus of the new MC2STEM High School to the museum.

2010 – NASA Glenn Visitor Center opens to the public after moving exhibits from its previous home at NASA’s Glenn Research Center next to Hopkins International Airport.

2013 – Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen becomes third president and CEO.

2016 – Cleveland Clinic DOME Theater installs the world’s first giant dome cinema laser system. It employs a three-projector, laser-illuminated projection system.

March 2020 – The center closes to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic.

June 2020 – The center reopens during the pandemic.

Fall 2022 – A new STEM-themed park will debut at the new MAGNET building in Cleveland’s midtown neighborhood, created in partnership with the science center.

2023 – A reimagined Cleveland Creates Zone exhibit area will reopen as the Cleveland Creates Gallery, aiming to generate pride in the region’s thinkers, makers and creative problem.

I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.

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