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Otago Museum has rebuilt its interactive science centre to meld Māori knowledge with traditional science.
The $2.5 million Tūhura Science Centre which opens to the public tomorrow morning in Dunedin, has 46 new hands-on science stations to play with and a refreshed butterfly house.
The museum's revamp has married Māori knowledge, or Matauranga Māori, with conventional scientific thinking.
Some of the pillars have been decorated as pou, or poles with traditional motifs, te reo features throughout, and the zones have been constructed to follow Ngāi Tahu's creation story.
"The whakapapa is the leading conversation, and the science follows it," the science centre's manager, Samantha Botting, said.
Some Dunedin school pupils got a preview of the science centre, including its impressive infinity room. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown
Mirrors and colour-changing lights in the infinity room. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown
At the Otago Museum Science Centre's heart is a seven metre high slide shaped like a DNA double helix, the building blocks of life. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown