Teaching Around the 4MAT ® Cycle: Designing Instruction for Diverse Learners with Diverse Learning Styles

‘4MAT has transformed my teachers from adequate to outstanding’ - Robin Kvalo, Principal, Rusch Elementary School, Portage, WI

‘Principals and teachers have continually requested 4MAT training as the 'basic core’ of knowledge for teachers in our 80,000-student district. We have trained literally hundreds of teachers over the past ten years to ‘teach around the 4MAT wheel’ and meet the learning needs of all their students’ - Patricia Shelton, Director of Certification and Professional Development, Brevard County Schools, FL

‘All children have intelligence. We have asked the wrong question. We ask 'How much?’ We must ask ‘What kind?’ - Mary Meeker, Former Member, Board of Directors, National Association for Gifted Children

Learning styles are linked to preferences in the ways people perceive and process experience. Bernice McCarthy’s unique 4MAT ® cycle is a brain-based teaching method that emphasizes diverse learning styles, honors learner individuality, teaches concepts as well as facts, and improves student thinking and performance on traditional as well as high-stakes assessments.

With 25+ years of field testing and field use supporting its effectiveness, the 4MAT ® method uses a 4-quadrant cycle of learning that begins by engaging learners through direct experience, moving them toward:

* Reflective observation

* Abstract conceptualizing

* Active experimentation and problem-solving

* Integration of new knowledge and skills