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MANISTIQUE -- This week is Michigan STEM week. It stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

As a way to increase STEM awareness, parents brought their K through fifth grade children to a family engineering event at Emerald Elementary in Manistique. All of the displays center around one theme.

Science and math are practical and can be easy to understand.

“Science is really amazing,” says participant Nick Erskine. “There're tons of interesting stuff about science, like helping endangered species and finding new dinosaur creatures."

The Northwoods Math and Science Center and Emerald Elementary hosted the well-attended event.

“I really hope that Emerald turns this into an event,” explains Vic Bugni, Director of Northwoods Math and Science Center. “And we also hope that some of the other schools in the area are able to pick it up."

National Honor Society member, Jared Edwards, concocted an engaging display that featured sand gravel mix, sand, and regular gravel. The idea was to figure out which was the appropriate building base.

For example, for a house, regular gravel would be the best because it's a hard surface, but on the other hand, for a playground, something like sand would be a good choice because it's soft to fall on.

Edwards says he also learned something in the process of creating his display.

“It just shows you have a better understanding if you're able to take something that might be more difficult,” says Edwards. “It’s great to make it into a simpler form for even kids to understand."

Edwards hopes his love of math and science encourages these kids to follow their dreams as well.