Engineering

Researchers and educators agree: Children demonstrate a clear readiness to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning early in life. And, just as with language and literacy, STEM education should start early in order to maximize its benefits and effectiveness. So why is STEM not woven more seamlessly into early childhood education? What can we do – in the classroom, in homes, in museums, in research labs, and in the halls of legislating bodies – to ensure that all young children have access to high-quality STEM learning early in life?

Demand for computer scientists is robust, but the pipeline for producing them is not. US universities are only meeting about a third of demand for computer scientists, and recruiting a diverse student body is a struggle; the number of women in computer science has actually declined in the past decade. To help change the perception of the computing field, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology developed EarSketch. EarSketch is an authentic STEAM (STEM + Arts) environment for teaching and learning programming (i.e.

Pervasive definitions of live coding in music focus on the simultaneous modification and execution of code in a live performance setting where a performer shares his screen with the audience. This article considers a role for live coding that does not focus on live performance but rather on educational contexts.

This article presents EarSketch, a learning environment that combines computer programming with sample-based music production to create a computational remixing environment for learning introductory computing concepts. EarSketch has been employed in both formal and informal settings, yielding significant positive results in student content knowledge and attitudes toward computing as a discipline, especially in ethnic and gender populations that are currently underrepresented in computing fields.