Work in progress - impact of graphical programming environments on learning and understanding programming concepts

There is widespread evidence to show that many first year engineering students have either a strong dislike for programming or an inability to write effective programs. This poses a problem, since many departments require their students to take some form of introductory programming as part of their first year in engineering. One possible reason why many engineering students have such difficulty with programming and the related concepts is that many engineers tend to fall heavily on the ldquovisual learnerrdquo side of the Felder-Silverman learning styles model. Since traditional, text-based programming languages, and the predominantly text-based way in which they are taught, do not align with the learning styles of these students, their ability to understand and implement the necessary concepts in an actual program may be drastically reduced. This paper discusses a work in progress investigating the use of graphical programming languages as a means for introducing programming concepts and catering to the visual learning style of most engineering students.