Georgia Tech School of Music professor Jason Freeman keeps finding new ways to engage children in schools to take a new interest in computer science and music.

His program, EarSketch, has already introduced coding to students in Gwinnett and Fulton counties in the Atlanta, Georgia region. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that 90,000 students have used EarSketch to date.

Developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech's Digital Media program and CEISMIC (Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing), EarSketch allows students to use code to create their own music. While that might sound like an unusual combination at first, Freeman told the AJC that it isn't as odd as it sounds.

“Music is something that has a connection to the real things students care about. It’s kind of a magical way to get them engaged, and that’s a huge challenge in STEAM education. But with EarSketch, they can interact with music through code, and they can do things they could never do with a traditional music platform. We’re able to create interactive applications that ask users about the kind of music they want - pop, gospel, hip hop and so on – using a library of about 4,000 sounds as a starting point. Students can even record their own sounds, too," he said in an interview.

Earsketch is a rapidly growing tool that is being used in Atlanta area schools, but has expanded to multiple states nationally and is now being used in other countries. It is free to use for anyone, and can be accessed at https://earsketch.gatech.edu.

Read more about it in the feature story.