Step Three— Quadrant 2 Right
Step three of the 4MAT System is designed to create a context for the learner to represent the subjective nature of his/her existing knowledge as a preparation for the validation and analysis of ideas. In this step learners are encouraged to symbolize, in as many modalities as feasible, their present state of understanding of the subject matter. Image making, central to this step, is a right mode activity. The emphasis here is the expansion of representations of meaning.
However, this step requires the learner to begin to shift from reflective experience to reflective thinking. The teacher’s role here is to draw attention to aspects of structure and objectivity implicit in the students representations of what they know.