Daisuke Saito, Hironori Washizaki, Yoshiaki Fukazawa, “Analysis of the Learning Effects Between Text-based and Visual-based Beginner Programming Environments,” 2016 IEEE 8th International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED), 7th-8th December, Kuala Lumpur. (to appear)

Although different programming environments have been developed to teach programming to beginners, the programming environment most suitable for introductory education is unknown in terms of the programming method such as text or visual. This study applies programming learning using a digital game, Minecraft, to compare the learning effect of text-based and visual-based programming in the LUA programming environment provided by a Minecraft extension. Both methods have certain learning effects, but visual-based programming has more significance than text-based programming on the attitude toward programming, indicating that visual-based programming is superior to text-based programming in introductory education.