Is it Worth the Time and Effort? Teachers’ Perceptions of 4MAT in the Southern Union

Myrna Colon, Ph.D.Professor of Education

Ruth WilliamsMorris, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology

In 2003, a transformed curriculum, Journey to Excellence, was established for the North American Division Seventh-day Adventist Schools

In agreement with the educational initiative of the NAD, in 2004, the Southern Union decided to continue the

modification with their own project called the Adventist EDGE from which 4MAT is derived.

The focus of Adventist EDGE is to use ideal practices that aid in the learning process to assist students in obtaining their highest ability of learning.

Adventist EDGE has proved successful and has grown to be a viable foundation for educators in the Southern Union.

Each year Adventists EDGE educators express satisfaction with the program .

Introduction

Since the implementation of 4MAT as part of Adventist Edge initiative, there has been no systematic, empirical inquiry into what teachers think and feel about 4MAT.

This cross-sectional descriptive design using survey methodology was guided by six research questions.

Statement of the Problem

To measure and describe quantitatively and qualitatively the perceptions of teachers currently working in the Southern Union of Seventh-day Adventist about 4MAT.

This cross-sectional descriptive design using survey methodology was guided by seven research questions.

Purpose of the Study

1. How effective do teachers perceive 4MAT to be?

2. How much are teachers using 4MAT?3. What types of strategies are teachers

using to enhance learning?4. What types of assessments are teachers

using to measure student learning?5. How do teachers feel about 4MAT?6. How much support from school

administrators do teachers perceive?7. How much do teachers know about 4MAT?

The Research Questions

Method•Participants•152 teachers, elementary, secondary, from 8 conferences in the Southern Union•38 men, 109 women•Average Teaching experience = 18 years (SD = 10.8)

Figure 1

Figure 2

The Instrument•The 4MAT Indicator Survey (4MATIS)•34 items, 4 sections (3Quantitative, 1 Qualitative)•Section 1 Beliefs and Actions (27) Likert scale•Section 2 Assessment and Strategies Checklist•Section 3 Feelings About 4MAT Open-ended•Section 4 Demographic (4)•Chronbach’s alpha = .86

Sample Section 1 Items

Which of these assessments do you use during a school year? Check as many as apply.

  Daily Frequent Seldom Never Multiple choice questions, Demonstrations  Matching questions, Presentations  True/false questions, Portfolios  Short answers questions, Peer Assessments  Essay questions  

Section 2 Assessment and Strategies

Sample items:1. How have your thoughts and feelings about C/I changed as a result of using 4MAT?

2. What do you see as the potential weaknesses of 4MAT?

3. Please give us any suggestions that you have about 4MAT.

Section 3. Feelings About 4MAT (Qualitative)

Procedure• Southern Union 2007

↓• Superintendents /Principals 2008

↓• All Schools in Southern Union 2008

↓• 899 surveys 2008

↓• 152 Received November 2008

QUANTITATIVE: Descriptive Statistics and Inferential Statistics

SPSS 17.0 software Means, SDs, Percentages Independent Samples t-tests, One-Way

ANOVA, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients

Data Analysis

QUALITATIVE: Content Analysis on Section 3 items

Positive comments Negative comments Emotional climate Weaknesses of 4MAT

Data Analysis cont’d

Research Question #1•1. How effective do teachers perceive 4MAT to be?•4MAT contributes to increased student achievement•M = 14, SD = 3.6, n = 152•Range of effectiveness =5-25

Research Question#2

How much are teachers using 4MAT?•I pose essential questions in the 4MAT unit•M = 32.86, SD 6.97•Use scores range = 11-55

Research Question #3• What types of strategies are teachers using to enhance learning?•Which strategies do you use? Check as many as apply (case studies, problem-based learning)

•Amount and frequency-Daily Frequently, Seldom, Never

•M = 105, SD = 31, n = 151•Range = 21 -200

Research Question #4•What types of assessments are teachers using to measure student learning? Amount and frequency

•M = 17.64, SD = 3.10, n = 152•Range = 3-20

Research Questions #5• How do teachers feel about 4MAT?

•M = 17.62, SD = 4.62, n = 150•Range 5-27•Higher values = more positive feelings

Research Question #6• How much support from school administrators do teachers perceive?•M = 3.77, SD = 1.79, n = 147•Range = 1-5•Higher values = more perceived support

Research Question #7• How much do teachers know about 4MAT?•I have had in-depth format training; I know my 4MAT type•M = 14.84 SD = 3.86, n = 150•Range of knowledge scores = 4 - 20

Interesting Relationships

•The more experienced the teacher the greater perceived effectiveness of 4MAT reported• r(126) = .30, p = .001, r squared = 9%•The more experienced the teacher the greater the use of different assessments used • r(128) = .31, p < .01, r squared ~9%

What the quantitative analysis tells, and does not tell us…

So, What did the teachers actually say?

Qualitative Analysis of Comments

A. How have your thoughts and feelings about curriculum and instruction changed as a result of using

4MAT? 65% of the

comments were positive

Teachers address different learning styles:•“I’m more aware of the needs of the different types of learners and how to reach them.”•“Think more about how each one learns.”•“More aware of learning styles in daily lessons.”•“I think more about the fact that the learner may not learn in the same way I do – that affects the strategies I choose.”

Students enjoy the lesson and learn:

•“I love to include 4MAT and curriculum and instruction. It takes more time to prepare but I know my students are connected and learning.”•“Student can learn more through 4MAT.”•“When I do teach a 4MAT lesson I feel good about it and my students enjoy the lessons.”

Some negative comments

•“My feelings are ambivalent. In our conference it has poor implementation and relevance. Is extremely impractical.”•“I don’t enjoy 4MAT.”•“There’s got to be a simpler way to I prove the quality of education!”

Teachers do not use 4MAT or have had little or no

training•“I’ve been told to use it, but have had zero exposure or training.”•“For 4MAT training I have few materials. It would take more time to prep a 4MAT unit. I don’t use it in my classroom.”•“I need more training.”•“I don’t use 4MAT. I have 8 students in 6 grades!”•“I’m not using 4MAT at this time.”

B. How have your thoughts and feelings

about assessment changed as a result of

using 4MAT?

The majority of the respondents expressed

positive change•“The necessity of assessment has heightened.”•“I am able to use a variety of assessment for my students. They also have the choice to show

what they have learned.”•“Increased the variety of assessment.”•“I use far less testing & more authentic assessment.”•“Using different methods.”

40% of the respondents express little or no

change•“Very little.”•‘No, not at all.”•“No ,still the same.”•“Still assess basically the same.”•“Somewhat. It leads itself to more forms of assessment.”

C. How has the emotional classroom climate been affected

by 4MAT?

The majority express a positive change

•“Students look forward to learning new things.”•“It has been good because most of the time the students are connected and want to learn what is being taught.”•“Kids enjoy the lessons more.”•“Students are happy.”•“Kids love the 4MAT units. They tend to work together better.”

Some express no change and negative feelings

•“None noticed”•‘I don’t use it enough to sense a difference. 4MAT is similar to my ‘regular’ way of teaching so really no change.”•‘No difference.”•“No change. I already plan around multiple intelligences.”•“It seems that the class gets disruptive and disorganized.”•“Students feel the lessons are disjointed-‘What’s the point?’ They have very little patience the traveling the wheel.”

D. What do you see as strengths of

4MAT?

Addresses different types of learner

•“It meets all types of learners – is very engaging for students.”•“Seeing how different children thrive in different learning environments.”•“It meets the needs of all learning styles. It helps organize teaching and objectives.”•“Brain-based, connects w/ all types of learners, more variety.”•“Helping all students learn in various ways.”•“4MAT reaches every child’s learning abilities and implements success for every child.”

E. What do you see as the potential

weaknesses of 4MAT?

Time consuming:•“Easy to spend too much time and not covering enough of the standards.”•“Time consuming.”•“Time in planning and carrying out.”•“Too much time to develop lessons.”•“It takes a lot of time to make. It also takes time to go through the wheel.”•“It is terribly time consuming – especially when you are planning for 5 different grades. It is very hard for students to make-up classwork when doing connect, etc.”

Multigrades•“Not relevant in multi-grade classes the complications arising from various implementations not covered during training.”•“NOT ENOUGH PLANNING TIME! Cumbersome and unrealistic for multigrade teachers to use consistently.”•“That if 4MAT has to be drastically implemented will be so difficult for teachers teaching multigrade.”

F. Has your sense of professional efficacy grown through the

Adventist EDGE initiative? If so, how?

The majority of the respondents answered

positively•“Consideration of clear objectives makes for more effective yearly planning.”•“Yes, it holds me more accountable and has raised the bar on what & how I teach.”•“Yes, more so because it gives a sense of being responsible to make sure you do deliver great education and doing so you seek the necessary skills and tools to do so.”•“Yes. I expect more of myself & feel like I am better at reaching my philosophy of helping each student everyday!”•“I now understand a lot more about how we learn. I can do things in my class and for my students that not just anybody can do.”

The majority of the respondents answered

positively cont’d•“Consideration of clear objectives makes for more effective yearly planning.”•“Yes, it holds me more accountable and has raised the bar on what & how I teach.”•“Yes, more so because it gives a sense of being responsible to make sure you do deliver great education and doing so you seek the necessary skills and tools to do so.”•“Yes. I expect more of myself & feel like I am better at reaching my philosophy of helping each student everyday!”•“I now understand a lot more about how we learn. I can do things in my class and for my students that not just anybody can do.”

¼ of the respondents answered that there was

little or no growth of efficacy

•“NO – It’s just so much verbage! Please quit teaching us like we haven’t been applying these principles for years – too much condescension re EDGE. AND we may come across to public school teachers as thinking we offer overall better programs. Our ONLY ‘edge’ is our freedom to teach Jesus.”• “No, it has not, due to the behavioral issues of students becoming a roadblock to conventional education, the EDGE initiative is reduced in efficacy because of the lack of relevance.”

 

¼ of the respondents answered that there was

little or no growth of efficacy cont’d

•“Not really. It has frustrated me more. When I don’t have the time to create all the 4MAT lessons I need to I feel inadequate as a professional. I just don’t think it is practical approach for a teacher in a small school.”•“No. I always tried to be creative, on the cutting edge. Now I am frustrated.”

 

G. Please tell us any suggestions

that you have about 4MAT.

Teachers request training

•“More training in actually making it usable and what our plan books should look like. More time to allow collaboration with others in writing good 4MAT units.”•“Provide coaching!”•“We need continuous training. Not a week of it because its overload. Break information into sessions so we are able to absorb it, just as you would a student. We would not give a student a bunch of work and then tell them to go do it.”•“Please train new teachers in the use of it.”•“More Webinairs [sic] with Bernice but after school hours. Most of us are still teaching at 2:30 when they were scheduled.”

H. Are you willing to teach 4Mat units that have been developed

by others and made accessible to teachers?

 

•Yes: 115•No: 17 

I. Do you need more practice and coaching

in 4MAT developed units?

•Yes: 78•No: 63

J. Would you like to collaborate with others to develop 4MAT units?

•Yes: 84•No: 53

Additional comments:•“Dear Ones, Thank you for doing this. We do need to stress the development of student focused lesson plans in our organization. It aleviates [sic] boredom and disruptive behavior and enhances inquiry, and a love of learning. The days of mindless reading and writing should really soon become only a distant memory. I am guilty of not planning my units using the 4-mat structure. But the recent webinars have helped me to refocus. I appreciate the large data base and will try hard to make use of it in the future.”

Additional comments: cont’d

•“I do not formally 4MAT all of my units. I believe that 4MAT is excellent, however, I make every effort to reach all of the learning styles in my classroom, through use of all of the intelligences. I am still learning 4MAT and find it very time consuming so I analyze all my plans to make sure I am including the different styles and intelligences. Teaching in the lower grades has enabled me to do all the varieties and follow the 4MAT wheel, but not formally write it up as such.”

•“I have not been trained with 4MAT yet.”

•“I’m willing [to teach 4Mat units that have been developed by others] but would have to modify / adapt to my class / curriculum.”

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

•Some teachers need 4MAT training.•Multigrade teachers need training on how to make 4MAT work for them.•Teacher’s need training on how to make 4MAT less time consuming.•Teachers want available/prepared 4MAT units.•Trainers should use 4MAT when training.•Provide opportunities for teachers to plan together 4MAT units at a convenient time for them.•Some teachers are using similar components of the 4MAT model and are also successful in the teaching learning process.•Some teachers perceive 4MAT as mandatory for al l unit planning and this makes them uncomfortable.

Conclusion and Discussions

•Strengths of study•Weaknesses of study•Agenda for future inquiry

Thanks to Student Research Assistants

•Emily Baldwin•Brandon Pierce•Gabriella Perez•Daniel Olson•Edely Yepez•Nadia Garmon

Thanks to

•Southern Union for initial and continuing support of the project

•Southern Adventist University for providing funds through a small Research Grant

Questions?

Contact: mcolon@southern.edu