In my Spanish class last semester, we had a final creative project. My group and I wrote a song using common errors we made in class, from the misuse of reflexive verbs to the imperfect past tense and false cognates. With the song stuck in my head, I remembered the errors, along with the correct vocabulary, more than if I had spent my time flipping through a textbook or reading notes.
This experience isn’t unique. There’s evidence that creativity helps us remember and understand better. Creative projects in college classes aren’t just fun. They help students learn more deeply, remember what they’ve learned and apply it to real-world contexts.
“When you learn information and use it to do something, it’s much more powerful and you remember it more,” said Lara Dossett, professor in the Department of Theater and Dance. “You’re not going to remember the test you took, but you are going to remember when you had to create a project that tapped into a piece of your learning and extended out to the rest of the world.”
The memory of creating something personal to you is something that sticks. A study on the effects of incorporating drama skills like movement, improvisation and roleplay in non-theater subjects using case studies, assignments and interviews found students reported greater retention of knowledge and developed skills like respect and collaboration.
One participant in the study stated that she enjoyed working creatively more than traditional reading, retained information better and learned interpersonal relationship skills like respect. Other students reported enjoying opportunities for creativity and personalization in class.
“In my stats class, we had to create a model (using) our own data set,” accounting junior Andrew Jiang said. “I found the data set about Taylor Swift because I’m a huge fan, and that definitely was more interesting. I was more invested in the content because it was actually something I enjoyed.”
Although creativity can boost retention, exams and papers help assess knowledge in a standardized way. Kate Catterall, associate professor of design, integrates textbook readings into her students’ process.
“We have to teach both,” Catterall said. “My students have to have a very good understanding of history and culture to design for that context. … They’re continually looking back to move forward.”
Like Catterall points out, creativity and traditional coursework go hand in hand. Including more creative projects in class isn’t about eliminating traditional learning methods; it’s about using creativity as a tool to help students learn. By incorporating creative projects, students become more engaged and enjoy the work more, resulting in better retention of information.
“If you could offer them a process that really sticks in their brains and hearts, then they’re going to take those lessons with them into the rest of their education and maybe the rest of their lives,” Dossett said. “If we want to have an impact, then considering creative methods is a way to extend our influence beyond just that semester.”
I can’t recall a single specific question from any of the exams I took in my Spanish class last semester. However, I can remember my thought process when writing my song: What are the most common classroom errors? How can we correct it in a way that’s both entertaining and accurate? So much work and personality went into creating that song that the lyrics are engraved in my brain and still get stuck in my head five months later. By incorporating more creativity in a traditional classroom setting, others can have the same experience.
Cintron is a journalism sophomore from Houston, Texas.
