Dear participants, welcome!

We are really excited to present EarSketch at this showcase. Please write in your comments:

- if you are using EarSketch, or planning to use EarSketch, and if so in what context

- if you have any questions about implementing EarSketch in your classrooms,

- if you would like to participate to the discussion about the future of EarSketch.

Thank you for watching the video!

Great work! The late elementary to college level scope of your curriculum is impressive! Do you find that you scale the level of work/difficulty for different levels? For example - do you target the CSP connection/alignment more for the High Schoolers than the younger students? If so, do you need to adjust elements of the curriculum depending on grade level? Thanks!

Does your software allow the user to import sounds from a microphone? I can well imagine some students wanted to sing or beat box with help from the computer. Other students may want to use their musical instruments to enhance the sounds they can produce. Does the software emulate a mixing board or tape loop machine?

Very interesting way to make coding come to life for students.  Do you have any documentation of student work showing the process they have gone through and the end result of their creation?

This project is so interesting- thanks for sharing. The competition results are great (I'm now a huge Gina Gomez fan), and I wonder if you studied how they were producing these songs? For example, do they seem to use what they are learning about coding to determine how to mix sounds, or is their understanding of music guiding their CS work? 

Hello Lea - this project looks like a very engaging platform for students to get hooked into computer science.  It is important for students to see a variety of avenues that lead in and out of the computer science field.  It is also very rewarding for students to see that creativity and personalization are key factors in this environment.

 

Do you have any suggested modules or shorter activities to give students a taste of the software and a few concepts?  I can imagine showing this to my high school students and sharing some of the music listed in the competition section and my students wanting to try it out to see if it is really do-able.

 

What type of growth have you seen in your high school computer science courses as a result of making EarSketch available?  Do students see a variety of career opportunities out there with the skills they've learned in EarSketch? One of my favorite videos I share from Made with Code to introduce the possibilities with computer scienc is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOdkfOhUtjs.

 

In trying to get started in to the program, I see a lot of text for students to read through, how does your team present the curriculum in a way that doesn't make the learning seem to intimidating for reluctant learners?

 

What kind of support do you give to teachers who may want to try the curriculum, but need to align it to state CS standards or national standards?

I am wondering about the teachers who are using this tool. Are you seeing music teachers who are crossing over into CS or the other way around? I shared your project with some of the music faculty at my school and await to hear their feedback. One commented that the intersection of computers and music is critical for anyone interested in production, engineering and related fields.

Thank you for sharing your program! It's amazing that it can be used from elementary students to college students. Ear Sketch can cross the curriculum; I am wondering if you know if it is more often used by music teachers or computer science and technology teachers?

This is VERY cool! My name is Art Lopez, and I am from San Diego, CA. I was one of the pilot teachers for AP Computer Science Principles course. One of my co-pilot colleagues, Eric Allata from New York, introduced me to EarSketch as he used it teach the AP CSP course. He really raved about it and its impact on his students! What really caught my attention in the video was the attraction of learning Computer Science for young women and ethnically diverse students. I teach in a school that is ethnically diverse and 90% of the student population is on free/reduced lunch programs. It is a first experience in computing for many of my students, and I find that using block languages really helps them understand Computer Science projects. What I would like to ask about is the block mode for using EarSketch; can the block mode be used to scaffold learning about CS for all age groups and levels when first using EarSketch, then migrate to the text based languages? I also concern myself with text based languages and syntax as that can be challenging, frustrating and disengaging for students who have little or no experience in computing. Thanks a lot, and, again, what a great project to teach students CS via music!

Really interesting concept. I wish this was around when I was a youth studying music on a daily basis!! In what ways might different cultural music be applied (e.g. powwow music for tribal students)? 

miigwech/thank you - April

I was fortunate to observe students work with Earsketch in a high school CSP classroom and was thrilled to see how much they enjoyed using it. More over, students were making connections with important programming concepts as they described different components of the music they had created. It was novel and exciting! Just a few questions: Are there ways the project is working to expand implementation, especially in schools with diverse and large minority student populations? Does the project have data on participation among women and other URM groups in CS that can be shared with the community? It would great to see this project continue to grow and flourish in more schools. So wonderful to see the many successes of this project!  

 

Such a cool project! I am wondering if you are doing any longitudinal research on students who are introduced to coding with EarSketch. Curious to know about how likely they are to pursue further classes in HS or college in CS/engineering-type fields (i.e. does that post interest/engagement translate to longer term learning). Great work. I am watching this with my 9-year old and she is clamoring to download EarSketch immediately!

Are you mapping to CSTA standards now as well? I really like the tie between music and coding - nice work!