Students of Pohang Donghae Middle School in North Gyeongsang Province learn about biodiversity during the POSCO 1% Foundation’s Science Beyond Imagination science class program in this undated photo. Courtesy of POSCO
The POSCO 1% Foundation has been running the Science Beyond Imagination science class program for around 5,700 students at 46 middle schools in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province — the cities where the company’s steel mills are located.
The foundation offers a five-day class at each school to inspire students to become scientists.
Between 2019 and 2023, around 14,000 students at 108 schools participated in the program, allowing the foundation to win the education minister’s prize last November.
The program’s participants are allowed to tour POSCO’s forthcoming plant for hydrogen reduction ironmaking virtually through augmented reality technology, after learning about the climate crisis, biodiversity and the characteristics of steel.
On the last day of each class, the participants talk about what they want to be.
The foundation has also chosen instructors for the program among young job seekers in Pohang and Gwangyang, as well as the cities’ women whose careers were interrupted.
In 2024, 62 instructors were hired to carry out the program at each school.
Through a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education, the foundation provided schools in other regions with materials used in the program, so as to help more students become scientists.
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