text: Finally, student-designed projects help ensure out-of-school learning by helping to spur student creativity. When students are assigned a project by a teacher there is little abstract thought needed to complete the project, all they have to do is follow the teacher's directives and they will get an acceptable grade. When students create their own projects, however, they are forced to think deeply throughout the entire process, from formulating the topic to deciding upon the presentation methods. Also, student-created projects encourage creativity because it opens the door for the study of more abstract topics instead of the mundane, ordinary topics that teachers usually dwell on. For example, music is shown to increase creative thinking, so if a student wanted to learn about the French Revolution, they could create a topic like, "The French Revolution and its effects on the Romantic music of the day," instead of an ordinary topic like, "The effects of the French Revolution." In summary, student-created projects encourage learning by requiring students to use their creativity.