The only assignments I remember spending extra time on were from comp sci courses. I think that's from a mixture of enjoying programming and some assignments providing a toy program. I'd always play around with what I built and take those ideas and build more. I found it difficult to do that with other subjects.
I think this is exciting because it gives students a chance to "play" around with their assignments. I can see students running through multiple simulations to compare results and thus going deeper on research beyond the scope of the assignment.