Research shows that building knowledge strengthens learning and thinking. Knowledge provides mental resources for making inferences, seeing patterns, and making connections. Expertise develops as this knowledge base grows. Building knowledge provides the foundation for skilled thinking. One way of making knowledge more secure is through self-testing.

Self-testing is most effective when:

• It involves selecting, organising and integrating material
• Tests are taken repeatedly
• Feedback is provided.

List It is a simple self-test that can be taken regularly. Choose a topic and time limit e.g. 10 to 15 minutes, and list as many:

• Keywords as you can
• Facts as you can
• Important events/quotes/people as you can
• Causes of X, as you can
• Consequences of Y, as you can

The result can be checked against class notes, a revision guide, etc., to ensure what’s written is correct and see what has been missed. Although challenging, List It provides feedback on what you know and don't know. Learning can be furthered by making connections between items on the list. More self-testing approaches will be explored in the coming weeks.