Creativity embedded in the biology curriculum

This article describes an intervention that was implemented in a School of Biological Sciences to improve students’ attitudes and experiences of creativity in learning. Initial surveys showed that our students did not feel that there were sufficient opportunities for creativity within their curriculum and that many students did not recognise their own creative potential. Given the importance of creativity to student learning, and to their futures, we designed a series of activities to encourage student creativity and embedded the activities within the first semester of our core biology first-year curriculum. Activities were designed to develop four overlapping aspects of student learning: i) to value creativity, ii) to appreciate the connection between creativity and learning biology, iii) to build students’ self-belief in their own creative potential and iv) to develop their creative skills. We share our reflections as staff members delivering this intervention in two course iterations. We then present examples of student outputs, feedback comments, and personal reflections from students’ reflective portfolios. Finally, we discuss key lessons learned and offer closing thoughts on the integration of creativity into our biology curriculum.