4th Graders at a Public Elementary School in Fukuoka City Took 'Thinking Habits' Classes for the AI Era for Half a Year
Learners Learner conducted 'thinking habits' classes for 4th graders at a Fukuoka public school for six months. Students successfully demonstrated 'transfer of learning', applying these skills in daily life.
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- 📰 Published: April 7, 2026 at 19:00
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Learners Learner Inc. (Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture), which provides leadership education programs, supervises the practice of career education at Fukuoka Municipal Nishitakamiya Elementary School. Through a half-year practice of classes for 4th graders that began in September 2025, it was confirmed that children spontaneously utilized the thinking habits they learned in class in other subjects such as Japanese and math, conversations at home, and extracurricular activities.
With the rapid evolution of AI, the coming society requires more than ever the ability to not only memorize knowledge but also to formulate questions on one's own, organize information, and deepen one's thoughts through dialogue.
This class utilizes a thinking habits curriculum redesigned for elementary school students based on advanced educational methods in the United States, and aims to nurture children's ability to think for themselves, find answers, and put them into practice in their daily lives. Through the half-year practice, it was seen that the ways of thinking learned in the class spread to other subjects such as Japanese and math, conversations at home, and extracurricular activities.
In the initiative targeting 196 students in all six 4th-grade classes, 99.4% of the 162 students who responded to the questionnaire answered that "thinking ability improved," and 98.1% answered that "it is necessary for the coming era." In addition, there were 154 free-text descriptions of situations where thinking habits were used outside of class, confirming a "transfer of learning" where learning spreads beyond the classroom to the entirety of daily life.
Background
In conventional career education, there were many occasions where emphasis was placed on knowing future occupations. On the other hand, in the AI era, the ability to think, judge, and act in one's own way in a changing society is becoming more important than memorizing correct answers. This practice at Nishitakamiya Elementary School is an attempt to expand career education from "learning to know occupations" to "learning to cultivate thinking skills to survive in the coming era."
This project is designed with a flow over three years from 4th to 6th grade: 4th grade "Knowing oneself and society" -> 5th grade "Testing oneself" -> 6th grade "Utilizing oneself." In the 4th grade in fiscal year 2025, students learned primarily the ability to formulate questions, the ability to grasp issues from multiple angles, and the ability to organize and convey thoughts.
Changes Seen Over Half a Year
What was particularly noticeable during this half-year was that children began to acquire the attitude of thinking of things as their "own personal matters." In the free descriptions, there were voices saying that they began to think about "what I would do" regarding news and disasters, and that they began to delve deeper into the background of events and their good and bad points.
In addition, the learned thinking habits have spread to various situations as follows.
- In Japanese, reading while treating the characters' feelings as one's own matter
- In math, facing problems by organizing what is known and what is not known
- At home, being conscious of speaking starting with the 5Ws and 1H or conclusions, making conversations easier to convey
With the rapid evolution of AI, the coming society requires more than ever the ability to not only memorize knowledge but also to formulate questions on one's own, organize information, and deepen one's thoughts through dialogue.
This class utilizes a thinking habits curriculum redesigned for elementary school students based on advanced educational methods in the United States, and aims to nurture children's ability to think for themselves, find answers, and put them into practice in their daily lives. Through the half-year practice, it was seen that the ways of thinking learned in the class spread to other subjects such as Japanese and math, conversations at home, and extracurricular activities.
In the initiative targeting 196 students in all six 4th-grade classes, 99.4% of the 162 students who responded to the questionnaire answered that "thinking ability improved," and 98.1% answered that "it is necessary for the coming era." In addition, there were 154 free-text descriptions of situations where thinking habits were used outside of class, confirming a "transfer of learning" where learning spreads beyond the classroom to the entirety of daily life.
Background
In conventional career education, there were many occasions where emphasis was placed on knowing future occupations. On the other hand, in the AI era, the ability to think, judge, and act in one's own way in a changing society is becoming more important than memorizing correct answers. This practice at Nishitakamiya Elementary School is an attempt to expand career education from "learning to know occupations" to "learning to cultivate thinking skills to survive in the coming era."
This project is designed with a flow over three years from 4th to 6th grade: 4th grade "Knowing oneself and society" -> 5th grade "Testing oneself" -> 6th grade "Utilizing oneself." In the 4th grade in fiscal year 2025, students learned primarily the ability to formulate questions, the ability to grasp issues from multiple angles, and the ability to organize and convey thoughts.
Changes Seen Over Half a Year
What was particularly noticeable during this half-year was that children began to acquire the attitude of thinking of things as their "own personal matters." In the free descriptions, there were voices saying that they began to think about "what I would do" regarding news and disasters, and that they began to delve deeper into the background of events and their good and bad points.
In addition, the learned thinking habits have spread to various situations as follows.
- In Japanese, reading while treating the characters' feelings as one's own matter
- In math, facing problems by organizing what is known and what is not known
- At home, being conscious of speaking starting with the 5Ws and 1H or conclusions, making conversations easier to convey