Using Comics to Introduce and Reinforce Programming Concepts in CS1

Abstract: Recent work investigated the potential of comics to support the teaching and learning of programming concepts and suggested several ways $coding$ $strips$, a form of comic strip with its corresponding code, can be used. Building on this work, we tested the recommended use cases of $coding$ $strip$ in an undergraduate introductory computer science course at a large comprehensive university. At the end of the course, we surveyed students to assess their experience and found they benefited in various ways. Our work contributes a demonstration of the various ways comics can be used in introductory CS courses and an initial understanding of benefits and challenges with using comics in computing education gleaned from an analysis of students' survey responses and code submissions.