UWC ISAK Japan High School Students Explore "What is Thinking Habits x Leadership" with Elementary School Students in a Practical Class at Clever Kids
High school students from UWC ISAK Japan conducted a leadership workshop for elementary school students at Clever Kids, a school that teaches thinking habits. Leveraging their international education insights, they provided a practical program for elementary school students to proactively explore leadership, creating a collaborative environment that transcends age and position.
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Clever Kids (President: Hiroki Endo), a school that teaches thinking habits, held a leadership workshop for elementary school students led by high school students from UWC ISAK Japan on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
This initiative is a practical program where high school students, learning in an international education setting, take the lead in exploring "what leadership is" together with elementary school students. By combining Clever Kids' emphasis on "the ability to think, discuss, and act independently" and UWC ISAK Japan's mission to "nurture changemakers," a collaborative environment transcending age and position was created.
This article introduces the ingenuity, learning, and outcomes of the workshop through interviews with the high school students who planned and conducted it.
■ A 1-hour Leadership Experience that Drew Out Elementary School Students' Proactiveness
The workshop lasted approximately one hour. The program consisted of the following four parts:
- Today's Thinking Habits
- What is Leadership?
- If You Were the Prime Minister
- Town Building Game for Everyone
First, through "Today's Thinking Habits," participants reviewed their usual lessons, then deepened their understanding of "what leadership is" through dialogue. Afterwards, they were given time to articulate their thoughts through the question "If you were the Prime Minister," and finally, they engaged in a team-based town-building game.
Throughout the workshop, the children not only participated but also gained experience in expressing their own opinions, accepting others' opinions, and collaboratively creating something as a team.
■ Children's Reactions Drove the Workshop Forward
— What was your impression of interacting with the children?
Hayashi-san: "I felt that all the children were kind and cooperative."
Sasa-san: "I was surprised by the rich reactions from the children, as they already had knowledge about thinking and the habit of verbalizing their opinions. They thought proactively about the questions and answered enthusiastically, which made the entire workshop very lively."
■ Designing to "Connect Leadership with Fun"
— Please tell us about the key points emphasized in this workshop.
Hayashi-san: "The goal of this workshop was to 'connect leadership with fun.'"
Generally, leadership tends to be perceived with heavy connotations like "responsibility" and "control." However, we believe that leadership is not something only held by people in special positions, but something each individual can demonstrate in their daily lives.
To naturally convey this idea to elementary school students, we carefully designed the workshop's questioning methods, flow, and choice of words. We meticulously crafted each line and mechanism by working backward from "how to make children want to express their opinions" and "how to deepen dialogue."
Sasa-san: "To clarify the essence of leadership and ultimately connect it to the children's actions, we meticulously created every line and mechanism by working backward. Through refining the plan with professionals in thinking education, we were able to clarify our team's definition of leadership, the desired changes, and specific behavioral characteristics."
Expressing one's own opinion, listening to others' opinions. If the children gained a sense that such small actions can influence the entire team, then the objective of this workshop was sufficiently achieved.
■ The Encounter Started with a "Search." Collaboration Born from Expanding Educational Practice Locations
— Please tell us about your connection with Clever Kids.
Sasa-san: "We have been active mainly in Karuizawa, but we wanted to deliver value to a wider area, so we were researching educational institutions in Tokyo."
In doing so, they searched with keywords such as "leadership," "Tokyo," and "after-school care" and found Clever Kids' initiatives.
Sasa-san: "After seeing an article about their collaboration with an elementary school in Fukuoka City, I felt that their direction aligned with ours, so I contacted them."
Clever Kids' efforts in collaborating with external educational institutions and creating learning opportunities connected to real society led to this partnership.
■ Planning Skills Polished Under High Standards
This initiative was also a new challenge for the high school students of UWC ISAK Japan.
This initiative is a practical program where high school students, learning in an international education setting, take the lead in exploring "what leadership is" together with elementary school students. By combining Clever Kids' emphasis on "the ability to think, discuss, and act independently" and UWC ISAK Japan's mission to "nurture changemakers," a collaborative environment transcending age and position was created.
This article introduces the ingenuity, learning, and outcomes of the workshop through interviews with the high school students who planned and conducted it.
■ A 1-hour Leadership Experience that Drew Out Elementary School Students' Proactiveness
The workshop lasted approximately one hour. The program consisted of the following four parts:
- Today's Thinking Habits
- What is Leadership?
- If You Were the Prime Minister
- Town Building Game for Everyone
First, through "Today's Thinking Habits," participants reviewed their usual lessons, then deepened their understanding of "what leadership is" through dialogue. Afterwards, they were given time to articulate their thoughts through the question "If you were the Prime Minister," and finally, they engaged in a team-based town-building game.
Throughout the workshop, the children not only participated but also gained experience in expressing their own opinions, accepting others' opinions, and collaboratively creating something as a team.
■ Children's Reactions Drove the Workshop Forward
— What was your impression of interacting with the children?
Hayashi-san: "I felt that all the children were kind and cooperative."
Sasa-san: "I was surprised by the rich reactions from the children, as they already had knowledge about thinking and the habit of verbalizing their opinions. They thought proactively about the questions and answered enthusiastically, which made the entire workshop very lively."
■ Designing to "Connect Leadership with Fun"
— Please tell us about the key points emphasized in this workshop.
Hayashi-san: "The goal of this workshop was to 'connect leadership with fun.'"
Generally, leadership tends to be perceived with heavy connotations like "responsibility" and "control." However, we believe that leadership is not something only held by people in special positions, but something each individual can demonstrate in their daily lives.
To naturally convey this idea to elementary school students, we carefully designed the workshop's questioning methods, flow, and choice of words. We meticulously crafted each line and mechanism by working backward from "how to make children want to express their opinions" and "how to deepen dialogue."
Sasa-san: "To clarify the essence of leadership and ultimately connect it to the children's actions, we meticulously created every line and mechanism by working backward. Through refining the plan with professionals in thinking education, we were able to clarify our team's definition of leadership, the desired changes, and specific behavioral characteristics."
Expressing one's own opinion, listening to others' opinions. If the children gained a sense that such small actions can influence the entire team, then the objective of this workshop was sufficiently achieved.
■ The Encounter Started with a "Search." Collaboration Born from Expanding Educational Practice Locations
— Please tell us about your connection with Clever Kids.
Sasa-san: "We have been active mainly in Karuizawa, but we wanted to deliver value to a wider area, so we were researching educational institutions in Tokyo."
In doing so, they searched with keywords such as "leadership," "Tokyo," and "after-school care" and found Clever Kids' initiatives.
Sasa-san: "After seeing an article about their collaboration with an elementary school in Fukuoka City, I felt that their direction aligned with ours, so I contacted them."
Clever Kids' efforts in collaborating with external educational institutions and creating learning opportunities connected to real society led to this partnership.
■ Planning Skills Polished Under High Standards
This initiative was also a new challenge for the high school students of UWC ISAK Japan.