IHI Holds On-Site Classes Titled "Learn the Features of Ammonia through Experiments" as Part of Cabinet Secretariat's EXPO School Caravan
The IHI Group will be participating in Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, which begins in April 2025, as a bronze partner in "Future Life Expo: Future City." In conjunction with this, from November to December 2024, we conducted on-site classes at elementary schools nationwide titled "Learn the Features of Ammonia through Experiments" as part of the Cabinet Secretariat's EXPO School Caravan project.
In the EXPO School Caravan, Expo 2025 exhibitors and sponsors visited elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and special-needs schools throughout Japan during the second and third semesters of the 2024 academic year. They conducted classes that provided students with opportunities to learn and think about topics such as SDGs and the future of society.
As part of the EXPO School Caravan, the IHI Group taught classes about ammonia, one of the key focus areas of IHI’s research and development. We conducted a class at Shimosho Elementary School in Ono City on November 12 (attended by 44 fifth graders), a class at Kashiwabara Elementary School in Maibara City on December 4 (attended by 10 sixth graders and 15 fifth graders), and a class at Midori Elementary School in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward on December 20 (attended by 47 fifth graders).
IHI employees made original instruction materials and used them to teach the classes. At the start of each class, a video was used to provide a clear and easy-to-understand explanation of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan and what IHI would be exhibiting. Then they taught the students about the features and applications of ammonia, which generates no carbon dioxide (CO2) during combustion, and about IHI's ammonia-related initiatives. The students then had the chance to experience first-hand the technologies used in producing, transporting, storing, and using ammonia.
In the ammonia-burning experiment, students observed how the color of the flame changed. In the ammonia-dissolving experiment, the students experienced the process of making a fountain using one of ammonia's properties, the ease with which it can be dissolved in water. Ammonia was dissolved in water, creating a vacuum in the experiment's round-bottomed flask. Water with phenolphthalein solution was then sucked into the flask, shooting up vigorously. The ammonia dissolved into the sprayed aqueous phenolphthalein solution, causing the previously clear liquid to suddenly turn red, to the cheers of the students. After the students performed their own firsthand experiments, the instructor performed a model experiment. The students crowded around the experimental equipment, watching with rapt attention. Care was taken to ensure that the experiments were conducted safely, and all of the experiments were successes.
Students who participated in the classes shared their thoughts, saying, "I had wanted to do the ammonia fountain experiment, so I was happy to actually be able to do it," and asked questions like "Can it change into any other colors during the fountain experiment at the end?" When the instructor explained that the color would change depending on what liquid the ammonia was dissolved into, the student was surprised, and it was clear that they'd developed a greater interest in science.
These on-site classes provided opportunities for students to become interested in science and to gain a deeper understanding of the environmentally-conscious fuel, ammonia. Through on-site classes such as these, the IHI Group will continue to promote understanding of our business activities and help develop the next generation of human resources.
[Related Information]
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Future City | IHI Corporation