Social contribution activities
Nurturing future generations
The future rests on our children's shoulders. With that in mind, we carry out various activities aimed at showing children how fun and interesting chemistry is, getting them interested in chemical technologies, and inspiring them to create the technologies of the future. This section outlines our Adventure Class in Wonder-Chemistry series of chemistry lab classes for children and our internship schemes, the aim of which is to teach interns about the nature of chemistry, and about chemical plants and complexes and how they harness the power of chemistry to produce a range of products, through study programs at our works and other facilities.
Adventure Class in Wonder-Chemistry
We started the Adventure Class in Wonder-Chemistry because we wanted to share the fun and possibilities of chemistry with future generations of children. Since 2006, we have organized various types of classes, from off-site classes, whereby members of staff from each of our sites go out to local schools, summer-vacation events and festivals, to laboratory classes combined with tours round our works and research centers. In fiscal 2011, we organized a total of 23 classes at 11 sites.
Based on the theme of chemistry in our everyday lives, in fiscal 2011 we tried to come up with new ways to teach children about chemistry in a fun and easy-to-understand context, so as to get them better acquainted with chemistry whilst having fun doing experiments at the same time. Over the course of the fiscal year 2011, more than 3,000 children took part in classes.
We were delighted to hear children saying things like “I like science a lot more now” and “I'm going to try some experiments at home” as a result of attending our classes. We also received comments such as “the explanations were a bit hard to understand” and “I would have liked to get more involved in the experiments.” We will take invaluable comments such as these on board as we strive to improve our activities in the future and come up with new themes for experiments.
An experiment class at Kids Engineer
Adventure in Class in Wonder-Chemistry classes in fiscal 2011
| Dates | Location | Type of event, title or venue |
|---|---|---|
| April 25 | Ichihara Works, Sodegaura Center | Off-site class: Class for company housing residence |
| June 8 | Omuta Works | Off-site class: Hirabaru Elementary School |
| June 30 | Omuta Works | Off-site class: Miike Elementary School |
| July 30-31 | Kanto Region | Class and exhibition: Kids Engineer 2010, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan |
| Aug. 2-3 | Sodegaura Center | Tour and laboratory class: Tour of Sodegaura Center for local elementary school children |
| Aug. 6 | Iwakuni-Ohtake Works | Tour and laboratory class: 3rd PAW Wakuwaku Tankentai field trip |
| Aug. 21-22 | Kanto Region | Class and exhibition: Dream Chemistry 21 Summer Holiday Children's Chemical Experiment Show, sponsored by the Japan Chemical Industry Association |
| Aug. 26 | Osaka Works | Tour and laboratory class: Children's Company Tour, sponsored by Takaishi City |
| Aug. 29 | Ichihara Works | Off-site class: Class for local elementary school children (Chigusa Community Center) |
| Sept. 11 | Mobara Branch Factory | Tour and laboratory class: Tour of Technical Training Center for local elementary school children |
| Sept. 26 | Ichihara Works | Class and exhibition: Works autumn festival |
| Oct. 10 | Iwakuni-Ohtake Works | Class and exhibition: Works autumn festival |
| Oct. 17 | Osaka Works | Class and exhibition: Takaishi Chamber of Commerce Festival |
| Oct. 23 | Nagoya Works | Class and exhibition: Works autumn festival |
| Oct. 24 | Omuta Works | Class and exhibition: Works autumn festival (Autumn Festa) |
| Oct. 31 | Iwakuni-Ohtake Works | Class and exhibition: Young persons' science festival |
| Nov. 9 | Omuta Works | Off-site class: Taisho Elementary School |
| Nov. 13 | Osaka Works | Class and exhibition OSTEC Exhibition Hall |
| Nov. 21 | Head Office | Class and exhibition Shiodome City Center Family Day |
| Nov. 26 | MC Industries & Japan Composite (Shimizu Factory) | Off-site class: Shimizu Komagoe Elementary School |
| Dec. 14 | Iwakuni-Ohtake Works | Off-site class: Waki Elementary School |
| Dec. 14 | Mobara Branch Factory | Off-site class: Higashi Junior High School |
| Feb. 24 | Omuta Works | Off-site class: Meiji Elementary School |
Adventure Class in Wonder-Chemistry experiments
* Experiment titles are subject to change
| No. | Experiment title | Field/area/format | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foamy urethane experiment | Chemistry | Chemical reactions | Demonstration MCI products |
Participants watch urethane, whose uses include cushion materials, specially designed pillows and refrigerator insulation, being foamed and experience reaction heat and differences in hardness |
| 2 | Slime ・Making your own slime ・Making jumbo slime together ・Shiny slime ・Slime ball |
Chemistry | Polymer properties | Hands-on | Participants learn about the principles of dilatant fluid and confined water, by cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol, water and borax |
| 3 | Light experiments with polarizing plate | Physics | Light | Hands-on | Participants learn about the passage of light through a polarizing plate with an element that converts natural light into linear light, as used in mobile phones and other such devices, by making a kaleidoscope |
| 4 | Chromatography art | Chemistry | Adsorption and separation | Hands-on | Participants learn that the ink in a water-based pen contains a mixture of many different colors (pigments) |
| 5 | Plastic board | Chemistry | Polymer properties | Hands-on | Participants learn about the properties and separation of plastics, by using the heat-shrinkable properties of polystyrene to make their own original accessories (key holders) |
| 6 | Cartesian divers | Physics | Buoyancy | Hands-on | Participants learn about buoyancy and pressure, by making a Cartesian diver from a PET bottle and a plastic soy sauce container |
| 7 | Red cabbage color experiment | Chemistry | Acid and alkali | Hands-on | Participants learn about chemical analysis and the properties of acids and alkalis, by extracting anthocyanin from red cabbage and investigating the properties of everyday liquids |
| 8 | Spongy polymers | Chemistry | Polymer properties | Hands-on Related to MCI products (non-woven fabric) |
Participants learn about the principle of water retention, by making an air freshener from a water-absorbing polymer, as used in disposable diapers, gardening supplies and other such products |
| 9 | Rainbow tower | Physics | Specific gravity | Hands-on | Participants learn about the specific gravity (relative density) of fluids, by pouring colored waters with varying concentrations together to make a tower |
| 10 | Let's make a freezer! | Chemistry | Heat of solution | Hands-on MCI products |
Participants learn about the principle of heat adsorption via the heat of solution of urea, as used in such products as fertilizer and moisturizing cream |
| 11 | Learn how bubble bath works! | Chemistry | Reaction of acid and salt | Hands-on | Participants learn about how carbon dioxide is produced, by making bubble bath from baking soda and citric acid |
| 12 | Learn about acid rain! | Chemistry | Acid and alkali Oxidation/reduction |
Hands-on | Participants learn about acid rain and what causes it, by measuring the pH of red cabbage extract and conducting a bleaching experiment using iodine |
| 13 | Let's make paper! | Technology | Making paper/recycling | Hands-on Related to MCI products (acrylamide) |
Participants learn about how paper is made and recycled, by experiencing papermaking using everyday implements |
| 14 | Let's make stickers from melted plastic! | Chemistry | Polymer properties | Hands-on Related to MCI products (general thermoplastics) |
Participants learn about the properties of thermoplastics, which melt when heated, by using a glue gun to melt plastic and make stickers |
| 15 | Experience the wonders of shrinking films! | Chemistry | Polymer properties | Hands-on Related to MCI products (film, PET, etc.) |
Participants learn about the principle of heat shrinkage, by making their own PET bottle from shrinkable film, as used for PET bottle labels and packaging materials |
Placements for domestic and overseas interns
We are eager to offer junior high school, senior high school, technical college, university and graduate students internship placements at our works, research centers and other facilities, in order to teach them about chemicals, how chemical plants operate and what it's like to work for a chemical company. We provided placements for a total of 180 students at our various sites during fiscal 2011. We had 22 overseas interns, this year including students from China, South Korea, Singapore, India, France and Malta. Internship placements also provided an excellent opportunity for employees working directly with students to rediscover their own company from a more international perspective.
Internship placements in 2010
| Site | Interns |
|---|---|
| Head Office | 3 |
| Ichihara | 48 |
| Mobara | 7 |
| Sodegaura | 11 |
| Nagoya | 20 |
| Osaka | 28 |
| Iwakuni-Ohtake | 21 |
| Omuta | 42 |
| Total | 180 |
