A group of middle school students from Western Alaska visited Anchorage this week to get a glimpse of college existence and learn the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM.
STEM is a worldwide movement that encourages students at an early age to excel in the four core subjects. The 12-day Middle School Academy is put on by the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program at University of Alaska Anchorage.
Friday's lessons included a section on energy conservation through home insulation.
"The reason why we're doing this experiment is because the heating bill is almost a thousand bucks per month," said Cooper Moen, a student in the Lower Yukon School District.
Throughout the academy, the students have built computers and bridges, learned about earthquake engineering and experimented with renewable energy.