A PowerPoint describing each element of Bernice McCarthy's 4MAT System

1. The 4MAT System
Bernice McCarthy

2. The 4MAT System
• Developed by Bernice
McCarthy
• EDD from Northwestern
University
• Founder of About Learning ,
formerly known as Excel
www.aboutlearning.com

3. The 4MAT System
Discussion
• What makes you learn?
• What challenges you to
learn?

4. The 4MAT System
Questions we ask:
– Why is this important? Why
should I be interested?
– What do I need to know? I want
to know this?
– How does this work? How can
I use this in the real world?
– What could this become? If I
knew this …

5. The 4MAT System
• People learn in different ways.
• People vary in their learning
styles
– Who they are
– Where they are
– How they see themselves
– What people ask of them

6. The 4MAT System
• Two major differences in how
we learn?
– How we perceive

8. The 4MAT System
• Two major differences in how
we learn?
– How we perceive
– How we process

11. Four Learning Styles

12. Type One: Imaginative Learner
– Seeks personal meaning.
– Perceive information concretely and
process reflectively.
– They learn by listening and sharing ideas.
– This learner judges things in relationship
to values.
– They desire social interaction and want to
make the world a better place.
– This person is cooperative and sociable
and interested in people and culture.
– He or she respects authority when it is
earned.
– This learner’s favorite question is, “Why?”

13. Four Learning Styles

14. Type Two Learner: Analytic
– Seeks intellectual comprehension.
– They perceive information abstractly and
process reflectively.
– They learn by thinking through ideas and
highly value sequential thinking.
– This learner judges things by factual
verification.
– They desire to know “the important things,”
and want to add to the world’s knowledge.
– This person is patient and reflective.
– He or she prefers a chain-of-command
authority.
– This learner’s favorite question is, “What?”

15. Four Learning Styles

16. Type Three: Common Sense
• Seeks solutions to problems.
• They perceive information abstractly and
process it actively.
• They learn by testing theories and apply
common sense.
• They are down to earth problem solvers.
• This learner judges things by their usefulness.
• They need to know how things work.
• They edit reality and cut right to the heart of
things.
• This person wants to make things happen.
• This person is practical and straightforward.
• He or she sees authority as necessary, but will
work around it if forced.
• This learner’s favorite question is, “How does
it work?”

17. Four Learning Styles

18. Type Four Learner: Dynamic
– Seeks hidden possibilities.
– They perceive information concretely and
process it actively.
– They learn by self-discovery and adapt to
change.
– They excel when flexibility is needed.
– This learner judges things by gut
reactions.
– This person is a risk taker and seeks to
influence others.
– This person is enthusiastic and
adventuresome.
– They see authority as something to be
disregarded.
– This learner’s favorite question is, “What
if?”

19. The 4MAT System
• Each learning style is unique
• All learners need to move
around the circle.
• The circle is more than
identifying learning traits.
• It is the learning process!

22. Right/Left Brain
• Right and left brain functions
• Research by Roger Sperry
• Researcher at Cal Tech
• Humans have two minds.
• Two sides operate
independently.

29. Right/Left Brain
• Left mode
– Rational
– Responds to verbal instructions
– Solves problem by logically and
sequentially looking at the parts of things
– Objective
– Looks at differences
– Is planned and structured
– Analyzes
– Prefers talking and writing
– Prefers objective tests
– Superior in writing

30. Right/Left Brain
• Right mode
– Intuitive
– Responds to demonstrated instructions
– Solves problem by hunching, looking for
patterns and configurations
– Subjective
– Looks at similarities
– Is fluid and spontaneous
– Synthesizes
– Prefers drawing and manipulating
– Prefers essay tests
– Superior in drawing

31. Read the words …
• Red
• White
• Blue
• Yellow
• Green

32. Read the colors …
• Red
• White
• Blue
• Yellow
• Green

33. Right/Left Mode
• Hemispheres differ in terms
of process …not content

37. The 4MAT System
• connects to learners
• provides relevant information
• offers an opportunity for
practice
• allows for creative adaptation
of material learned.

38. 4MAT Strengths
• It moves away from a strict linear
pattern of thinking and learning.
• We are creatively created persons
and each of us learns in different
ways.
• Each person learns by a pattern
that is uniquely his or hers.
• The 4MAT system is a process
that can be used in multiple
subjects from social studies to
math to biblical instruction.

39. 4MAT Weaknesses
– One is not effective by merely
completing hands-on activities
and engaging in discussion
questions.
– All activities must be moving
toward learning outcomes and
be purposeful in their end.
– Content on the subject must be
shared in all four quadrants.

40. Christian Context
– Each person is created in the image of
God and is uniquely different.
– The 4MAT System is amoral in that it
has no moral outcome as its goal. It
makes no truth or value judgments on
the outcome or the conclusion of the
learner.
– The solutions that the learner
reaches could be immoral or
unethical. A teacher can lead students
toward a conclusion that is ungodly or
immoral and do so by emphasizing his
or her presuppositions at every
quadrant during the lesson.

41. Christian Context
– The teacher can bring their
conclusions to the lesson and lead the
learner toward their personal bias and
desired outcome.
– All teaching and learning must be
viewed through the lense of revealed
truth in Scripture.
– Character cannot always be viewed
merely through the end result of
learning outcomes. It is what that
person does over a period of years
and who that person is when no one is
watching.