4MAT Guide To Instructional Design

©2006 About Learning, Inc.
No copying or reproduction is allowed without the expressed written

A Guide to Using
consent of About Learning, Inc. For additional information on 4MAT
and 4MAT Training, please call About Learning at (800) 822-4628. Student Learning Styles
4MAT® is a registered trademark of About Learning, Inc.
to Differentiate Instruction
About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com

Differentiating instruction to improve student learning is at the core of
good educational practice. No one disputes that teachers should do
everything in their power to help students learn.
Carol Ann Tomlinson a key proponent for differentiating instruction

describes DI as follows: “It means teachers proactively plan varied
approaches to WHAT students need to learn, HOW they will learn it and
how they will demonstrate what they have learned to increase the
likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can.”
The message is clear. Teachers must use a variety of methods to help

students learn. So, the key is to create a process for helping teachers use
a wider array of instructional techniques to improve student interest,
involvement and understanding. The 4MAT Model is one proven
approach to meeting these goals.
The 4MAT Method proposes that students learn in different ways and that
high quality instruction integrates all these different learning methods. It is
based on different ways that people perceive and process information.
One key issue for teachers in working to differentiate instruction is that
they will have to teach each student differently and individually. 4MAT
offers a framework for actively differentiating instruction within an entire
class, all in the context of a single unit.
1 14
About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com
While students should use all modes of learning, most people seem to
favor one particular type:
YOUR 4MAT PLAN:

A FINAL LOOK Type One: Imaginative learning –
Making Connections.
Feeling and watching, seeking personal
Use these eight questions as a final check of your 4MAT plan. associations, meaning, involvement.
The key question is WHY?
HOW TO
INTEGRATE THE WHAT
REFINED CONNECTION?
EXTENSION? Type Two: Analytic Learning –
Formulating Ideas.
HOW TO REFINE
HOW TO SHARE Listening to and thinking about information,
THE EXTENSION?
CONNECTIONS?
seeking facts, thinking things through,
WHAT PERSONAL WHAT IMAGE learning what the experts think.
EXTENSION? STRATEGY?
The key question is WHAT?

WHAT WHAT
PRACTICE? CONTENT?
13 2
Type 3: Common Sense Learning –
Applying Ideas. 2. After the Image Task in Quadrant Two, Right Mode
Thinking and doing, experimenting, building, Can they depict the meaning of the Quadrant One experience as a
concept, a significant idea that the details in the lecture
creating usability.
will exemplify?
The Key question is HOW?
Did the graphic organizer/visual representation, poetic/musical strategy
help them to see the big picture, the core meaning of the content?
How will you know?
3. After the Information Delivery

Did they understand the material?
Do they know the difference between the important information
and the substantiating details?
Type 4: Dynamic Learning –
What kind of test, quiz, or oral exchange will help you find out?
Creating Adaptations.
Seeking hidden possibilities, exploring, learning 4. After the Skills Practice
by trial and error, self discovery. Can they do it?
The key question is IF? Can they do it as you taught it? This is important because they need the
expert skill base practiced and fluid before they can begin adapting the
learning to new or novel situations.
Traditional instruction relies primarily on Analytic What kind of measurements will you use to assess their skill level?
Learning (information delivery) even though
research shows it is not effective in promoting 5. At the End of the Performance/Project/Personal Extension
student involvement, engagement, and retention. What outcomes are you after?
Based on research on learning styles, the 4MAT How will you know if they were met?
Framework of instruction provides a solid basis for What rubric will you use, what list of criteria for different grades, for an
helping teachers differentiate instruction. A or a B etc.?
This brief instructional guide to 4MAT will show Will you involve learners in creating the rubric?
you how to overlay your existing teaching Will you ask them to provide new questions as a culmination of learning?
activities directly on the 4MAT wheel, identifying
Will you ask them what they learned that you didn’t ask?
any gaps in instruction.
How will you combine the various assessments into one final grade?
To learn more about 4MAT Training, please call
About Learning toll free at (800) 822-4MAT.
3 12
8. The Image That Connects
THE 4MAT DESIGN OVERLAY
What is the nonverbal strategy you will use to have learners express their
“pre-understanding” of the concept? For example, if you are studying decay,
How do teachers look at what they are already doing through the lens of
have them nonverbally express a lack of decay, if you are studying liberty,
The 4MAT® Framework?
have them find/recite/play poems and songs that express freedom. These
expressions need to The instructions that follow will help teachers create a 4MAT Wheel by
be directly based on learner past experiences, as connected and shared in reflecting on or adapting what they are already doing.
Quadrant One, and must relate to the content you are explaining in the lec-
ture/readings that follow. If you do this well, the learners will attend to your 1. The Information Delivery
lecture and focus on their readings with a highly successful attitude of “Oh!, I
Begin with your information delivery system.
know what this means, I have experienced this.”
How will you tell learners about the content?
Fill in your image that connects (IMAGE) step in Quadrant Two, Right Mode.
Are you going to lecture?
A note about image strategies: We use the word “nonverbal” to move teachers
away from the often tedious overkill of text. However, a fine piece of poetry Will the lecture be interactive? (Stopping along the way and
can capture images with great power. interacting with learners or asking them to do something)
Is there a guest lecturer?
9. Adding the Assessments
Will there be assigned readings?
The heart of assessment is really— how are my learners doing?
Fill in your information delivery process in the Quadrant Two, Left Mode
Even though we must know— did they do it, we must keep track of their
(INFORM) step of the 4MAT Wheel.
progress along the way so we can monitor and adjust. That is how we can
ensure their progress.
As learners move through the cycle, you need to assess how they are doing at
five key places.
1. At the End of Quadrant One

Did the groups/partners work well together?
Did the experience you created make a personal connection to them?
Were their perceptions shared honestly and enriched by this sharing?
How will you know?
Information
Delivery
11 4
The
2. The Skills Practice Outcomes Connection
How will you determine if they understood the lecture?

Sharing the
What kind of practice will you require?
Connection
Are there work pages or questions at the end of chapters?
Are there skill and practice materials?
Fill in your process description in Quadrant Three, Left Mode
(PRACTICE).
The Learning
Used
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
3. The Intended Outcomes
The
What outcomes are you intending?
Outcomes Connection
What will they be able to do that they can’t do now?
How will they synthesize learning?
Sharing the
Will they share reading notes, graphic organizers, summaries of Connection
important events, their personal reflections, their visuals? Critiquing
the Work
Will you have them create a composite representation of their
learnings?
The word “per-f orm” means to form through and that is the essence of
this step. It represents the merging of the learning and the learner. How The Learning
will learners explain or perform their work? Avoid a series of reports Used
that they stand up and deliver. This is not learning. Oral reports, one
after another, can be more deadly than a boring teacher.
Fill in the expected outcomes in the Quadrant Four, Right Mode
(PERFORM) step.
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
5
6. The Learning Used
This is where learners take the learning and do something with it,
something that has meaning for them, not just something that is
done to pass a test. This is where relevance is demonstrated.
Where does your concept exist in life outside school?
Where is it useful?
Can you ask learners to answer these questions and find
these applications?
Can you give learners an opportunity to interpret material, and
adapt it to their lives and unique perspectives?
What will they do to show and use their new understandings and
skills? Choose projects or performance requirements that are
meaningful and useful in real life.
Fill in the description of what you will ask of them in Quadrant Three,
Right Mode (EXTEND). Skills Information
Practice Delivery
Outcomes
7. Critiquing the Work
How will learners edit and refine their unique use of the learning?
Here they pause to reflect, merging their interpretive applications
with “by the book.”
What procedures will you put in place for feedback and mentoring?
Will you use peer review? Self-evaluation?
Could learners create self-evaluations and link them back to the Quadrant
One, Left Mode (ATTEND), step where “hoped-for”
outcomes were written as part of their reflections?
Fill in the critiquing procedures you will use in Quadrant Four,
Left Mode (REFINE).
Skills Information
9 Practice 6 Delivery
The
4. The Connection Outcomes Connection
What will you do to get your learners excited about the material?
What experience will you create in the classroom that will inspire them
to learn what you’re about to teach?
Remember, this is never telling, this is something that happens,
something that intrigues them (a problem to solve), or connects to them
(a situation that has real meaning in their lives), or touches them in a way
that links to their humanity.
Fill in that connection experience in Quadrant One, Right Mode
(CONNECT).
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
5. Sharing the Connection The

What discussion techniques will you use to give learners the Outcomes Connection
opportunity to share what just happened in the experience you
created?
Sharing the
How will you have them discuss their perceptions? Will it be Connection
teacher-directed (the least potent), small group discussion with
cooperative learning techniques, or student partners?
Will you ask them to list any commonalities they have discovered in their
shared perceptions?
Will these lists be shared with the entire group?
Will you ask them to write reflections, perhaps in journals, on the
connections they experienced through the discussion?
Will you ask them to list “hoped-for” outcomes of the learning they are
about to experience?
List the process you will use to share the connections in Quadrant One,
Left Mode (ATTEND).
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
7 8
The
4. The Connection Outcomes Connection
What will you do to get your learners excited about the material?
What experience will you create in the classroom that will inspire them
to learn what you’re about to teach?
Remember, this is never telling, this is something that happens,
something that intrigues them (a problem to solve), or connects to them
(a situation that has real meaning in their lives), or touches them in a way
that links to their humanity.
Fill in that connection experience in Quadrant One, Right Mode
(CONNECT).
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
5. Sharing the Connection The

What discussion techniques will you use to give learners the Outcomes Connection
opportunity to share what just happened in the experience you
created?
Sharing the
How will you have them discuss their perceptions? Will it be Connection
teacher-directed (the least potent), small group discussion with
cooperative learning techniques, or student partners?
Will you ask them to list any commonalities they have discovered in their
shared perceptions?
Will these lists be shared with the entire group?
Will you ask them to write reflections, perhaps in journals, on the
connections they experienced through the discussion?
Will you ask them to list “hoped-for” outcomes of the learning they are
about to experience?
List the process you will use to share the connections in Quadrant One,
Left Mode (ATTEND).
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
7 8
6. The Learning Used
This is where learners take the learning and do something with it,
something that has meaning for them, not just something that is
done to pass a test. This is where relevance is demonstrated.
Where does your concept exist in life outside school?
Where is it useful?
Can you ask learners to answer these questions and find
these applications?
Can you give learners an opportunity to interpret material, and
adapt it to their lives and unique perspectives?
What will they do to show and use their new understandings and
skills? Choose projects or performance requirements that are
meaningful and useful in real life.
Fill in the description of what you will ask of them in Quadrant Three,
Right Mode (EXTEND). Skills Information
Practice Delivery
Outcomes
7. Critiquing the Work
How will learners edit and refine their unique use of the learning?
Here they pause to reflect, merging their interpretive applications
with “by the book.”
What procedures will you put in place for feedback and mentoring?
Will you use peer review? Self-evaluation?
Could learners create self-evaluations and link them back to the Quadrant
One, Left Mode (ATTEND), step where “hoped-for”
outcomes were written as part of their reflections?
Fill in the critiquing procedures you will use in Quadrant Four,
Left Mode (REFINE).
Skills Information
9 Practice 6 Delivery
The
2. The Skills Practice Outcomes Connection
How will you determine if they understood the lecture?

Sharing the
What kind of practice will you require?
Connection
Are there work pages or questions at the end of chapters?
Are there skill and practice materials?
Fill in your process description in Quadrant Three, Left Mode
(PRACTICE).
The Learning
Used
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
3. The Intended Outcomes
The
What outcomes are you intending?
Outcomes Connection
What will they be able to do that they can’t do now?
How will they synthesize learning?
Sharing the
Will they share reading notes, graphic organizers, summaries of Connection
important events, their personal reflections, their visuals? Critiquing
the Work
Will you have them create a composite representation of their
learnings?
The word “per-f orm” means to form through and that is the essence of
this step. It represents the merging of the learning and the learner. How The Learning
will learners explain or perform their work? Avoid a series of reports Used
that they stand up and deliver. This is not learning. Oral reports, one
after another, can be more deadly than a boring teacher.
Fill in the expected outcomes in the Quadrant Four, Right Mode
(PERFORM) step.
Skills Information
Practice Delivery
5
8. The Image That Connects
THE 4MAT DESIGN OVERLAY
What is the nonverbal strategy you will use to have learners express their
“pre-understanding” of the concept? For example, if you are studying decay,
How do teachers look at what they are already doing through the lens of
have them nonverbally express a lack of decay, if you are studying liberty,
The 4MAT® Framework?
have them find/recite/play poems and songs that express freedom. These
expressions need to The instructions that follow will help teachers create a 4MAT Wheel by
be directly based on learner past experiences, as connected and shared in reflecting on or adapting what they are already doing.
Quadrant One, and must relate to the content you are explaining in the lec-
ture/readings that follow. If you do this well, the learners will attend to your 1. The Information Delivery
lecture and focus on their readings with a highly successful attitude of “Oh!, I
Begin with your information delivery system.
know what this means, I have experienced this.”
How will you tell learners about the content?
Fill in your image that connects (IMAGE) step in Quadrant Two, Right Mode.
Are you going to lecture?
A note about image strategies: We use the word “nonverbal” to move teachers
away from the often tedious overkill of text. However, a fine piece of poetry Will the lecture be interactive? (Stopping along the way and
can capture images with great power. interacting with learners or asking them to do something)
Is there a guest lecturer?
9. Adding the Assessments
Will there be assigned readings?
The heart of assessment is really— how are my learners doing?
Fill in your information delivery process in the Quadrant Two, Left Mode
Even though we must know— did they do it, we must keep track of their
(INFORM) step of the 4MAT Wheel.
progress along the way so we can monitor and adjust. That is how we can
ensure their progress.
As learners move through the cycle, you need to assess how they are doing at
five key places.
1. At the End of Quadrant One

Did the groups/partners work well together?
Did the experience you created make a personal connection to them?
Were their perceptions shared honestly and enriched by this sharing?
How will you know?
Information
Delivery
11 4
Type 3: Common Sense Learning –
Applying Ideas. 2. After the Image Task in Quadrant Two, Right Mode
Thinking and doing, experimenting, building, Can they depict the meaning of the Quadrant One experience as a
concept, a significant idea that the details in the lecture
creating usability.
will exemplify?
The Key question is HOW?
Did the graphic organizer/visual representation, poetic/musical strategy
help them to see the big picture, the core meaning of the content?
How will you know?
3. After the Information Delivery

Did they understand the material?
Do they know the difference between the important information
and the substantiating details?
Type 4: Dynamic Learning –
What kind of test, quiz, or oral exchange will help you find out?
Creating Adaptations.
Seeking hidden possibilities, exploring, learning 4. After the Skills Practice
by trial and error, self discovery. Can they do it?
The key question is IF? Can they do it as you taught it? This is important because they need the
expert skill base practiced and fluid before they can begin adapting the
learning to new or novel situations.
Traditional instruction relies primarily on Analytic What kind of measurements will you use to assess their skill level?
Learning (information delivery) even though
research shows it is not effective in promoting 5. At the End of the Performance/Project/Personal Extension
student involvement, engagement, and retention. What outcomes are you after?
Based on research on learning styles, the 4MAT How will you know if they were met?
Framework of instruction provides a solid basis for What rubric will you use, what list of criteria for different grades, for an
helping teachers differentiate instruction. A or a B etc.?
This brief instructional guide to 4MAT will show Will you involve learners in creating the rubric?
you how to overlay your existing teaching Will you ask them to provide new questions as a culmination of learning?
activities directly on the 4MAT wheel, identifying
Will you ask them what they learned that you didn’t ask?
any gaps in instruction.
How will you combine the various assessments into one final grade?
To learn more about 4MAT Training, please call
About Learning toll free at (800) 822-4MAT.
3 12
While students should use all modes of learning, most people seem to
favor one particular type:
YOUR 4MAT PLAN:

A FINAL LOOK Type One: Imaginative learning –
Making Connections.
Feeling and watching, seeking personal
Use these eight questions as a final check of your 4MAT plan. associations, meaning, involvement.
The key question is WHY?
HOW TO
INTEGRATE THE WHAT
REFINED CONNECTION?
EXTENSION? Type Two: Analytic Learning –
Formulating Ideas.
HOW TO REFINE
HOW TO SHARE Listening to and thinking about information,
THE EXTENSION?
CONNECTIONS?
seeking facts, thinking things through,
WHAT PERSONAL WHAT IMAGE learning what the experts think.
EXTENSION? STRATEGY?
The key question is WHAT?

WHAT WHAT
PRACTICE? CONTENT?
13 2
Differentiating instruction to improve student learning is at the core of
good educational practice. No one disputes that teachers should do
everything in their power to help students learn.
Carol Ann Tomlinson a key proponent for differentiating instruction

describes DI as follows: “It means teachers proactively plan varied
approaches to WHAT students need to learn, HOW they will learn it and
how they will demonstrate what they have learned to increase the
likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can.”
The message is clear. Teachers must use a variety of methods to help

students learn. So, the key is to create a process for helping teachers use
a wider array of instructional techniques to improve student interest,
involvement and understanding. The 4MAT Model is one proven
approach to meeting these goals.
The 4MAT Method proposes that students learn in different ways and that
high quality instruction integrates all these different learning methods. It is
based on different ways that people perceive and process information.
One key issue for teachers in working to differentiate instruction is that
they will have to teach each student differently and individually. 4MAT
offers a framework for actively differentiating instruction within an entire
class, all in the context of a single unit.
1 14
©2006 About Learning, Inc.
No copying or reproduction is allowed without the expressed written
A Guide to Using
consent of About Learning, Inc. For additional information on 4MAT
and 4MAT Training, please call About Learning at (800) 822-4628. Student Learning Styles
4MAT® is a registered trademark of About Learning, Inc.
to Differentiate Instruction
About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com

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©2006 About Learning, Inc.

No copying or reproduction is allowed without the expressed written

About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com

Carol Ann Tomlinson a key proponent for differentiating instruction

The message is clear. Teachers must use a variety of methods to help

YOUR 4MAT PLAN:

The key question is WHY?

The key question is WHAT?

3. After the Information Delivery

1. At the End of Quadrant One

How will you determine if they understood the lecture?

5. Sharing the Connection The

5. Sharing the Connection The

How will you determine if they understood the lecture?

1. At the End of Quadrant One

3. After the Information Delivery

YOUR 4MAT PLAN:

The key question is WHY?

The key question is WHAT?

Carol Ann Tomlinson a key proponent for differentiating instruction

The message is clear. Teachers must use a variety of methods to help

About Learning • 441 W. Bonner Rd. • Wauconda, IL 60084 • 800-822-4MAT • www.aboutlearning.com

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