Using EarSketch to Teach Students How to Code while Making Music

Purpose & objective

The presentation is meant to introduce participants to a tool they can use in their classrooms as a way to bridge music and computer science. EarSketch is a browser-based coding platform that creates music through code. This tool has been the focus of many partnerships with metro Atlanta schools in developing curricula for their classes, and has been utilized in classrooms around the globe since its release.

Participants will be given an overview of the curricula that we have developed and released. Afterwards, they will learn about some of the basic functionality of EarSketch and how to code a song from scratch.

Outline

Introduction (3 mins)
Overview of EarSketch Projects (10 mins)
Curriculum Examples + Standards Covered (10 mins)
Samples of student artifacts (10 mins)
Overview of EarSketch platform (2 mins)
Coding activity (45 mins)
- learn how to code a song from scratch (no coding or music experience needed)
Impact of computer science education in a music technology classroom (5 mins)
Q&A (5 mins)

Supporting research

Koval J, Hernandez D, McKlin T, Edwards D, Arce-Nazario RA, Carroll-Miranda J, Perez IRQ, Marrero-Solis L, Freeman J, Brown TL, Padro P, Garrett S, Rao AE, Usselman M (2023) Latinx Culture, Music, and Computer Science Remix in a Summer Camp Experience: Results from a Pilot Study. https://peer.asee.org/latinx-culture-music-and-computer-science-remix-in-a-summer-camp-experience-results-from-a-pilot-study

Magerko, B., Freeman, J., McKlin, T., Reilly, M., Livingston, E., McCoid, S., & Crews-Brown, A. (2016). Earsketch: A steam-based approach for underrepresented populations in high school computer science education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 16(4), 1-25. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2886418

Freeman, J., Magerko, B., McKlin, T., Reilly, M., Permar, J., Summers, C., & Fruchter, E. (2014, March). Engaging underrepresented groups in high school introductory computing through computational remixing with EarSketch. In Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education (pp. 85-90). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2538862.2538906

Freeman, J., Magerko, B., Edwards, D., McKlin, T., Lee, T., & Moore, R. (2019). EarSketch: engaging broad populations in computing through music. Communications of the ACM, 62(9), 78-85. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3333613

Wanzer, D. L., McKlin, T., Freeman, J., Magerko, B., & Lee, T. (2020). Promoting intentions to persist in computing: an examination of six years of the EarSketch program. Computer Science Education, 30(4), 394-419. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08993408.2020.1714313

Engelman, S., Magerko, B., McKlin, T., Miller, M., Edwards, D., & Freeman, J. (2017, March). Creativity in authentic STEAM education with EarSketch. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 183-188). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3017680.3017763