4MAT

This is a theory of adult learning, developed in the 70s and published in 1980 by a woman named Bernice McCarthy.

4mat describes the difference between two states of perceiving.

• Experiencing: actually seeing or reading about something
• Conceptualizing or “Abstracting Experience”: taking that experience and turning it into conceptual forms

There are also two states of processing:

• Reflection: thinking about a concept
• Acting: applying that concept to the outside world

Two axes of binary states results in four quadrants that describe different learners. Unfortunately, this is where it becomes confusing. I found lots of a different definitions for the four quadrants. I would link to McCarthy’s explanation (she’s published a lot), but even she seems to explain it a little differently every time.

This page describes the four like this:

• The “Converger” style: preferring concepts and active experimentation.
• The “Diverger” style: preferring practical experience and reflection.
• The “Assimilator” style: preferring abstract modeling and theoretical reasoning.
• The “Accommodator” style: preferring practical experience and active testing.

Weirdly, that page references work by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, which is essentially the exact same thing. Here’s Honey and Mumford’s styles:

1. Activist
2. Reflector
3. Theorist
4. Pragmatist

And their axes are:

• “Concrete Feeling” vs. “Abstract Conceptualization”
• “Reflective Observation” vs. “Active Experimentation”

Wikipedia says that Honey and Mumford published in 1986, and most references to McCarthy put her before that, so I wonder if there’s some sort of dispute here. (All Wikipedia has on 4mat is a page is for a British musician.)

I did like how McCarthy explains that the 4MAT system works in a four-step sequence:

• Experiencing: seeing The Skill
• Conceptualizing: forming abstract concepts from The Skill
• Applying: using The Skill to solve a known problem
• Creating: thinking of new things to do with The Skill

I do not know how that relates to her four quadrants, or if it just coincidentally has four items also.

In the end, the basic theory of 4MAT is that there are four basic learning styles, resulting from where a student exists on two spectrums.

Why I Looked It Up

I read about it in How to Teach Anything: A Writer's Guide On How to Explain Things. I wanted to go a bit deeper, so I looked into it.