Teaching Around the 4mat(r) 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  

What we need to know about our students is not "How much?" intelligence, but "What kind?"  

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

Learning happens as we unite our experiences and their meaning with actions that test those meanings in the world. This exciting new resource offers schools a powerful tool to enhance teaching and learning for students with all learning styles, backgrounds, and preferences. 

Bernice McCarthy is the creator of the 4MAT® method of instruction and the founder of About Learning, a training, publishing, and consulting firm that specializes in instructional design and development. Dr. McCarthy’s 4MAT approach identifies the diversity of learners and connects them, no matter their level, to any type of material, emphasizing real-world applications as an essential component of in-depth understanding. This concept-based approach to curriculum and instructional planning promotes high-quality teaching and learning. Most educators consider Bernice McCarthy′s work to be a key contribution to the development of the learning styles movement and the differentiated classroom. She has presented numerous workshops and keynote sessions on effective learning at hundreds of renowned organizations worldwide, including the U.S. Pentagon, Chicago Public Schools system, Cornell University, the Education Department of the Government of Venezuela, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.