STEAM-based interventions: Why student engagement is only part of the story

Abstract

EarSketch lowers the barriers to entry and broadens engagement in computer science through expressive and culturally relevant music composition. In EarSketch, students write computer code to remix sound samples into original music compositions, often within hours of first exposure to the application. Coupled with sound samples rooted in modern music genres, EarSketch generates deep student engagement. We observed two unexpected challenges when implementing EarSketch in high school Computer Science Principles courses. First, music that appeals to the students' generation may be difficult for teachers to appreciate (and vice versa). Second, while a majority of students engaged in music production and coding, we observed that some students fixated on artistic musical expression without engaging in substantial computational thinking. These findings may apply more broadly in computational courses situated in expressive domains and to STEAM courses in general. We conclude with suggested changes to professional development, which may be applied more generally to creative computation and STEAM-based courses.