Cheat Sheet for Teaching Programming with Comics:

Through the Lens of Concept-Language-Procedure Framework

Sangho Suh
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Canada
[email protected]
arXiv:2306.00464v1 [cs.HC] 1 Jun 2023

Figure 1: Cheat sheet for teaching programming with comics. It consists of four main sections: (A) concepts, (B) languages, (C)
procedures, and (D) use cases. It can be downloaded at: https://codingstrip.github.io/use
ABSTRACT design patterns. We also formulated a concept-language-procedure
Comics is emerging as a popular medium for providing visual expla- framework to delineate how comics can facilitate teaching in pro-
nations of programming concepts and procedures. Recent research gramming. To evaluate our cheat sheet, we presented it to 11 high
into this medium opened the door to new opportunities and tools to school CS teachers at an annual conference for computer studies
advance teaching and learning in computing. For instance, recent re- educators and asked them to rate its readability, usefulness, organi-
search on coding strip, a form of comic strip with its corresponding zation, and their interest in using it for their teaching. Our analysis
code, led to a new visual programming environment that generates suggests that this cheat sheet is easy to read/understand, useful,
comics from code and experience report detailing various ways well-structured, and interests teachers to further explore how they
coding strips can be used to benefit students’ learning. However, can incorporate comics into their teaching.
how comics can be designed and used to teach programming has
not yet been documented in a concise, accessible format to ease
their adoption. To fill this gap, we developed a cheat sheet that
CCS CONCEPTS
summarizes the pedagogical techniques and designs teachers can • Applied computing → Education.
use in their teaching. To develop this cheat sheet, we analyzed prior
work on coding strip, including 26 coding strips and 30 coding strip
KEYWORDS
Copyright held by the owner/author(s). comics; cheat sheet; coding strip; curriculum
1 INTRODUCTION with their corresponding code (coding strip [29]). Between the two,
A cheat sheet is most commonly known as a set of well-structured, the coding strip research has been more active. Suh et al. [29] devel-
concise notes that summarize key concepts, techniques, or topics oped and tested a design process and tools for creating coding strips
taught in a course that students may reference during their exams. via design workshops with students and teachers. Their team also
While this is where the word originates from, the concise format tested four use cases for coding strips in an introductory CS course,
of cheat sheet has evolved beyond the classroom setting and has where the use cases represented four basic teaching tasks for any
become a popular format and term for documenting a variety of programming classes [28]. Two tools have been developed to fa-
information—e.g., facts, tips, and techniques in a wide range of cilitate the authoring of coding strips: a comic authoring tool [27]
areas—in a concise manner [31]. For instance, cheat sheets are used based on the above-mentioned design process and tools [29] and
to describe a set of commands for operating systems (e.g., Linux), a visual programming environment that can automatically gen-
programming languages (e.g., Python), and softwares, among many erate comics from code [26]. Our cheat sheet summarizes these
others, for users to reference quickly. researches into a concise, accessible format of cheat sheet so that
Inspired by the accessible format of cheat sheet, we developed teachers can conveniently reference them without having to read
a cheat sheet for teaching programming with comics in the hope lengthy research papers.
that this makes comic-based pedagogy more accessible to teachers.
Specifically, this work is motivated by the following observations: 2.2 Other Approaches: Storytelling, Animation,
(1) research on teaching programming with comics has successfully and Concrete Representations
explored various fundamental tasks and learning activities, showing We assume that teaching programming boils down to teaching its
that it is ready to introduce ways to improve and innovate current concept, language, and procedure, and that they are all responsible
teaching practices [25, 28]; (2) many comic authoring tools (e.g. [27, for making programming abstract and less accessible for novice
30])—both research and commercial tools (e.g., Pixton [3])—are learners. We describe the approaches that have been used to support
now available, rendering the once feared task of creating comics the teaching of programming concepts, languages, and procedures.
no longer an obstacle for teachers; (3) the remaining friction to its
adoption is the lack of clear, concise document that teachers can • Concept: Storytelling [12], metaphor [6, 10], and analogy have
easily reference. Motivated by these observations, this work aimed been popular choices for making abstract programming concepts
to summarize comic-based pedagogy in an accessible cheat sheet more intuitive and engaging. CS unplugged is a kinesthetic learn-
format. ing method in which students learn computing concepts through
To develop this cheat sheet on teaching programming with hands-on activities without the use of computers [22].
comics, we referenced prior work on teaching programming with • Language (Syntax & Semantics): Turning abstract text-based
comics [25, 28–30], analyzed 26 coding strips—a form of comic strips programming into more concrete, graphic-based languages has
with its corresponding code—and their 30 design patterns [2, 29], been a popular approach. Graphic languages such as Scratch [23]
and formulated a concept-language-procedure framework to de- (a block-based programming language) provide programming
lineate and organize ways in which comics can support diverse constructs resembling LEGO blocks, making code expressions
needs in teaching programming. For the preliminary evaluation, more accessible to younger audiences. Physical (tangible) pro-
we presented it to 11 high school CS teachers at an annual confer- gramming makes programming more approachable, hands-on,
ence for computer studies educators, administered a survey after and accessible to younger students and the visually impaired [19,
this session, and analyzed their responses. Analysis of survey re- 21]. A set of simplified text-based commands specific to a game
sponses and feedback suggests that teachers find our cheat sheet environment has also been explored [14].
easy to read/understand, useful, and well structured. In summary, • Procedure: Tracing execution steps in a program is a skill novice
our contributions include: learners need to master, but the challenge is that in many cases
all the steps are not necessarily shown and are instead presented
• analysis of comics under the concept-language-procedure frame-
as abstractions [24]. For instance, when describing a program, it
work to delineate the values and benefits it offers;
is common to describe the number of times a program loops but
• cheat sheet for teaching programming with comics that provides
omit what happens and how memory changes in each iteration.
guidelines on why and how to use comics;
While this is to focus on the structural (high-level) aspects of the
• evaluation of this cheat sheet by high school CS teachers.
program, this makes procedures (sequence of steps) abstract for
learners who have not yet mastered the ability to process the steps
2 RELATED WORK
in their head. To address this, many have researched program
In this section, we first review prior work on teaching programming visualization and developed new tools; they used animations of
with comics. We then discuss what approaches have been explored visual objects and models (e.g., characters, robot, and animals in
to teach programming concepts, languages, and procedures and Scratch, Gidget, Logo) as proxies to show how the code works;
how comics can offer the same benefits and more. similarly, Storytelling Alice [8] illustrated procedures in terms
of characters and stories; others (e.g., Python Tutor) have used
2.1 Teaching Programming with Comics interactive visualizations with diagrams, where learners can step
Prior research on teaching programming with comics can be sum- through each line of code and observe changes in memory state,
marized as (1) using comic books (e.g., [15]) with characters present- to understand the execution sequence and what each line of the
ing programming concepts via narration and (2) providing comics code does to memory states [11].
2.3 Relevance of Comics CONSTRUCTS
When describing reasons to use comics, many frequently reference Identify main idea(s
its ability to engage readers and improve memory [17, 18, 32]. Al- Find relevant metaphor, analogy, stor
though they are true, we focus on other less-mentioned aspects Illustrate in comics
of comics–(1) expressiveness and (2) affordance—that deserve to
be mentioned as attributes as they are critical to making comics a VARIABL
powerful, appropriate medium for teaching programming. Idea: variables store value
(1) Expressiveness. Below, we highlight how the visual language of Metaphor: piggy ban
comics can illustrate abstract concepts, languages, and procedures Analogy: piggy bank store money
in programming in effective and creative ways. Story: Jane put $1 to piggy bank

• Concept: Comics is a unique medium that can leverage the BOOLEAN / CONDITIO
power of storytelling, metaphors, and analogies. Fig. 2 shows Idea: either true or fals
Jane putting $1 to her piggy bank. Here, piggy bank is a metaphor Metaphor: birthday or not-birthda
for variable that stores something ($1 in this case). Jane putting -1
Analogy: if birthday, extra cand
money into it is analogous to a value being assigned to a vari- Story: if birthday, get 2 extra candies and
able in semantics. On top of storytelling, metaphor, and analogy,
-2
share 2 candies with sister instead of 1 candy
comics adds visual representations to the mix. Thus, it can ar-
guably provide (or leverage) the best of both worlds, offering
cognitive benefits visual representations possess. Furthermore, it Figure 2: Part of the concept section (Fig. 1A)
can also address the limitations of metaphors and analogies, as
comics can leverage visuals to constrain interpretations and mini-
Loop repeats while condition is true For example, we can express “endless looped time” as
mize the risk of confusion often cited as limitations of metaphors 1: Dormammu, I have

come to bargain! condition

and analogies. While Dormammu refuses,

while ( dormammu_refuses ) {

Dr. Strange says, “I have come to bargain!”

print(“I have come to bargain!”);

• Language (Syntax & Semantics): Code syntax and semantics

2: Dormammu, I have

come to bargain! Dr. Strange dies.

dies();

can be illustrated and explained by using comics in a creative way. 3: Dormammu, I have

}
repeat

For instance, Fig. 3 shows how comics can be used to scaffold come to bargain!

a piece of code. Students see a comic (visual language) about

the movie Dr. Strange where a character uses the Time Stone to Figure 3: An example of how comics can be used to teach
start a time loop to repeat the same moment; then students see code semantics & syntax [28]
this expressed in English (natural language), and then in code
(programming language). The example shows how comics can be
REPETITION (loop)
used to teach the language syntax and semantics: the indented
structure carries over from comic to English and then to code A Counted Loop (e.g., for)
to teach this syntax; the repetition of the same panels provides
visual clarity for users to grasp what the programming construct iteration <= n
i=0 i=1 i=2 i=3
while does; comics can help users better understand and retain
the idea longer by leveraging a familiar story and visuals; the
code semantics for print() is also explained with the action of a iteration > n
i=0 i=1 i=2 i=n ... i = 10
character speaking, providing intuition by associating it with a
familiar abstraction.
• Procedure: Also referred to as “sequential art,” one of the defin- ?
B Conditional Loop (e.g., while)
ing characteristics of comics is its sequential nature. It can lever- YES NO

age sequence of panels to illustrate computational procedures in ...

creative ways. Fig. 4 shows two comic examples on loop. The two
examples represent two slightly different ways of viewing (and
Figure 4: Part of the procedure section (Fig. 1C)
visualizing) loops. Fig. 4A illustrates counted loop (e.g., for), visu-
alizing a loop with fixed number of iterations. Fig. 4B illustrates
conditional loop (e.g., while), where the number of iterations is engaging viewers, comics offers unique benefits in some ways, e.g.,
not pre-determined. placing multiple panels side-by-side to help viewers easily compare
(2) Affordance. Comics provides unique cognitive benefits that and contrast events occurring at different times and perceive con-
cannot be found in similar media such as animation. As shown in nections between separate scenes. Also, Yang [33] found that his
Fig. 5, comics differs from animation in that sequence of events can students who received his math instructions in the form of both
be juxtaposed and shown all at once using panels—not to mention comics and video preferred comics: with video, students had to
various ways in which panels can be arranged in creative ways constantly rewind it to re-watch the parts they did not understand;
to enhance the delivery and reading experience [4, 5]. While the with comics, they could read at “their pace,” which empowered
dynamic nature of animation may be more effective in terms of them as they do not have to re-wind and be reminded again about
 plans. As we reviewed a number of lesson plans found in Creative
Computing Curriculum [1], K–12 Computer Science Framework [7],
and others, we found that they can have different components de-
t=2
pending on the needs of the classroom [20]. Thus, to make our
t=1 cheat sheet generalizable, we chose to focus on three fundamental
t=0 tasks in lesson planning: (1) defining learning objectives, (2) craft-
ing learning activities/instructions, and (3) identifying assessment
methods. This motivated us to include instructions such as “identify
main idea(s)” (Fig. 2) and use cases related to reviewing the learned
concepts, languages, and procedures.
DG2. Make cheat sheet flexible to accommodate diverse
(a) Animation (b) Comic age groups and programming paradigms. Prior research sug-
gests that the target student groups for this comic-based pedagogy
Figure 5: While animation (a) shows one scene at a time, do not need to be limited to a younger audience (e.g., K-5) [25, 28].
comic (b) shows multiple scenes at once and provides readers In other words, comics can be used in programming classes for
greater sense of control over the pace at which they process K-5 with block-based programming [30] as well as for university-
the information [33]. Furthermore, being able to see all the level introductory programming classes taught using text-based
scenes altogether allows one to discover any relationship programming languages (e.g., Python). Thus our cheat sheet should
(e.g., connection between the scenes/states) more easily. not center around specific programming languages or paradigms
but should be organized using a higher level of abstraction. This
the parts they did not understand. Jonathan Hennessey explains led us to search and specify concept, language, and procedure as
the unique affordance of comics this way [16]: basic programming components that students are taught regardless
of their age and programming language. This is why we structured
“In one image or composition, the reader can linger our cheat sheet around concept, language, and procedure.
over the potential significance of small details without DG3. Explain why they might want to use comics. Unlike
having the sense that the narrative flow has been dis- some cheat sheets that list a set of commands or shortcuts to help
rupted. No matter how much time you spend inside people with ‘how,’ our cheat sheet needs to go beyond simply help-
one panel, you never feel like the story has stopped or ing with ‘how.’ This is because this cheat sheet aims to help teach-
altered tempo. Not the way you would if you pressed ers make informed decisions on whether to use comics and, if yes,
‘pause’ while watching a video. So it’s ideal for stu- which one they should choose. Thus, our cheat sheet explains ‘why’
dents and teachers. It has the vividness of the moving to help its users make informed decisions. This made us include at
image and the complexity of text.” the beginning of our cheat sheet ‘what makes programming diffi-
The unique affordance of comics can be useful in the context of cult’ in order for us to explain why they might want to use comics.
teaching programming. In programming classes, novice learners Also, this is why—in the instruction for the procedure section in
often vary in their ability to keep up with the teaching. Being able the cheat sheet—we write: ‘Visualize procedures to help students
to control the tempo can be useful for students who have difficulties learn to trace (visualize) them.’
keeping up with the instructions in class. It is useful in terms of DG4. Provide examples and use cases to make the content
being able to accommodate students at different levels. For exam- and ideas clear. While surveying existing cheat sheets, we found
ple, struggling students can“linger over” the initial panels longer that even for cheat sheets on the same topic, they could differ in
and other students who do not need to do so can pay attention to terms of their focus. For instance, one version of the cheat sheet for
the later part of the sequence. Students can read different parts of Python lists only a set of built-in functions, while another version
the comics and not have to worry about interfering with the pace lists explanations on basic syntax and conventions. The difference
at which other students are progressing, because the sequence of stems from which group of users the cheat sheet is for. Since our
panels can all be displayed, as shown in Fig. 5. Further, when an target group is teachers with no prior knowledge of teaching pro-
instructor takes a piece of code and steps through the execution se- gramming with comics, we need to include examples and use cases
quence, some students can get confused about a certain explanation to make the content and ideas clear for them.
or step but have difficulty specifying which part or step they were
confused about; with comic, students can easily pinpoint which
part they were confused about. 4 PRELIMINARY EVALUATION
To evaluate our cheat sheet, we presented it at a conference for
3 CHEAT SHEET: DESIGN GOALS computer science educators, an annual conference organized by
In this section, we describe considerations and design goals (DGs) the University of Waterloo for high school CS teachers. For this
that guided the design of our cheat sheet: year, the conference was held virtually.
DG1. Structure cheat sheet to support fundamental tasks Participants were informed through the abstract in the confer-
in lesson planning. To situate our cheat sheet in a setting where ence schedule that a survey will be administered during our session
teachers can use them during their lesson planning, we reviewed but that they are free to attend the session and not partake in it.
lesson plans and resources teachers use to construct their lesson The 50-minute session proceeded with the presenter (the author
of this paper) first presenting the cheat sheet (40 min) and then examples.” P4 said: “I can see students being self-motivated to try this
waiting for participants to answer the survey (10 min). out and easily pick up these concepts.” On the other hand, P7 who
The survey consisted of 5-point Likert scale questions that probed found it Moderately Useful explained that it seems to “require some
their perceptions of the cheat sheet’s readability, usefulness, and explanation” before one can use it.
organization. Questions with options to express the level of agree- Interest in Using Cheat Sheet. About half of the participants
ment (e.g., Somewhat Agree) were bipolar (extremely negative to ex- (3 Probably Yes, 4 Might or Might Not) expressed interest in using
tremely positive),1 whereas those for assessing the usefulness were it to teach programming. P5 had an interesting idea of sharing this
unipolar (0 to extreme).2 Each Likert scale question was followed cheat sheet with his students for them to read, saying “I would make
by a question asking participants to elaborate on their responses this available to students after explaining it so they can try it out
(i.e., qualitative feedback). The survey ended with demographic as an assignment or an experiment.” Two participants who were
questions about their age, gender, and teaching experience. on the fence explained that they just “need time to process how to
Seven out of 11 attendees (age: M=51.4, SD=14.4; gender: 1F, 6M) incorporate this into [their] teaching practice” (P4) and “would like
answered our anonymous survey. Except for one participant who to take a closer look at the cheat sheet to better evaluate the benefit”
had no teaching experience, all of them were highly experienced in (P7).
teaching (M=20, SD=7.5); they had equally many years of experience Concept-Language-Procedure Framework. Participants gen-
teaching computer science (M=17.3, SD=10.5; Range: [6, 34]) for erally agreed that programming can be thought of as consisting
students in grades 10 - 12 (4 Grade 10; 5 Grade 11; 4 Grade 12). of concept, language, and procedure (3 Strongly Agree, 4 Some-
The programming languages they taught included: Turbo Pascal, what Agree). P4 said: “this helped me organize my thoughts.” P7
Visual Basic, BASIC C, C++, C#, Java, Scratch, Python, Processing, also approved, saying: “I hadn’t considered structuring coding in this
Java/Swift. We refer to these participants as P1. . . P7. way, but it makes sense. It is one logical way you could do it.” They
Readability. Participants generally found the cheat sheet (1) were also generally in agreement with how the cheat sheet was
easy to read (1 Strongly Agree, 6 Somewhat Agree), (2) easy to un- structured around concept, language, and procedure (3 Strongly
derstand (7 Somewhat Agree), and (3) well-structured (2 Strongly Agree, 1 Somewhat Agree, 3 Neither Agree nor Disagree).
Agree, 5 Somewhat Agree). Several comments were related to prob-
lems caused by the set up of the session. P3 said, “the cheat sheet was
small on the screen.” P5 mentioned that it was a bit of challenge to 5 DISCUSSION
“grasp concepts” since he did not have “hands on access’ to the cheat Opportunities. With the growing popularity of CS education,
sheet and it was a “short session.” P4, on the other hand, commented the demand for a larger teacher workforce has increased, with an
on the content, saying that “almost too much information is shown” increasing number of research, resources, and workshops to serve
and that he is “most interested in the basics.” this need. Our cheat sheet can be used as a teaching resource for
Usefulness of Comics. While they generally had positive at- teacher education. As comics is a popular medium for students,
titudes towards comics (‘I like comics’: 3 Strongly Agree; 2 Some- incorporating comics into programming classes can be a welcome
what Agree; 2 Neither Agree nor Disagree), surprisingly many of innovation in classrooms, as prior work has shown [28]. Besides
them—prior to the session—did not think comics could be useful programming, other more advanced CS classes—such as operating
for teaching/learning programming (3 Not At All Useful, 2 Slightly system and network—can also benefit from leveraging comics. It
Useful, 2 Moderately Useful). All of them, however, did indicate would be interesting to explore, e.g., what kinds of design patterns
that—after the session (during which they learned various ways can be used to teach concepts in other areas in CS.
comics can be used to teach programming through the cheat sheet)— Limitations. As this cheat sheet summarizes relatively recent
their perception towards its usefulness became more positive (7 research on teaching programming with comics, we do not see—nor
answered More Useful after This Session to ‘Compared to before present—this cheat sheet as a final and comprehensive summary of
this session, how useful do you think using comics to teach/learn teaching programming with comics. As new techniques and tools
programming is?’). The participants mentioned several reasons are developed in the future, this cheat sheet should be updated.
for their responses, explaining that (1) comics seem to make pro- The contributions of this work are in initiating the first step to-
gramming “more accessible” (P1) and can be useful, especially for wards summarizing the comic-based pedagogy and formulating the
students in “ESL/ELL and IEPs” (P3). P5 said: concept-language-procedure framework to place it inside.
“This could be supplemental to what we’re already doing Even though our cheat sheet seems to have done a good job
and a great addition to the course. It will really help at compressing years of research on teaching programming with
some students who like learning with visuals.” comics, one participant’s comment that explanation is still required
to understand how to use the cheat sheet shows that a walk-through
Usefulness of Cheat Sheet. Participants mostly found the cheat
video or article explaining the cheat sheet might still be necessary.
sheet very useful (3 Extremely Useful, 2 Very Useful, 2 Moderately
But as noted in our design goals (DG3 & DG4), this may be in-
Useful). They seemed to agree that it is very “detailed” and contains
evitable as long as the cheat sheet is used by teachers without prior
a “clear source of information” for understanding how to teach with
experience or knowledge of teaching programming with comics.
comics. P3 saw it as a “great place to start, [as it offers] concrete
Moreover, our evaluation did not extend to verify whether teach-
1 Strongly Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Somewhat Agree, ers can use this cheat sheet to successfully incorporate the comic-
Strongly Agree based pedagogy into their teaching. As a result, this work does not
2 Not At All Useful, Slightly Useful, Moderately Useful, Very Useful, Extremely Useful provide a complete picture of what, if any, worked and did not.
 Future Work. As highlighted above, we need to test whether [8] Stephen Cooper, Wanda Dann, and Randy Pausch. 2000. Alice: a 3-D tool for
teachers can successfully plan their lessons using our cheat sheet, introductory programming concepts. Journal of computing sciences in colleges 15,
5 (2000), 107–116. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/364133.364161
to understand, for example, how much time and effort are required [9] Michael De Raadt. 2012. Student created cheat-sheets in examinations: impact
to adopt this approach, as well as what improvements, if any, are on student outcomes. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth Australasian Computing
Education Conference, Vol. 123. 71–76. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2483716.
needed to make the adoption easier. Moreover, while the presented 2483725
cheat sheet focuses on programming, comics can also be used [10] Sarah Esper, Stephen R Foster, and William G Griswold. 2013. CodeSpells: em-
to teach other CS courses, such as computer networks, privacy bodying the metaphor of wizardry for programming. In Proceedings of the 18th
ACM conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education. 249–
(cf. [27]), ethics, and AI. We plan to explore how comics can be 254. https://doi.org/10.1145/2462476.2465593
used to teach other topics and areas in computer science and share [11] Philip J Guo. 2013. Online python tutor: embeddable web-based program visual-
a collection of their cheat sheets in www.codingstrip.github.io. The ization for cs education. In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on
Computer science education. 579–584. https://doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445368
teachers in our study also asked for a cheat sheet with examples of [12] Caitlin Kelleher, Randy Pausch, and Sara Kiesler. 2007. Storytelling alice motivates
comics for all basic programming concepts. We believe access to middle school girls to learn computer programming. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
conference on Human factors in computing systems. 1455–1464. https://doi.org/
such a resource will make using comics easier and attract interest 10.1145/1240624.1240844
from teachers. Another interesting idea would be to explore the [13] Tzu-Sheng Kuo, Hong Shen, Jisoo Geum, Nev Jones, Jason I Hong, Haiyi Zhu,
possibility of using cheat sheet as a learning resource for students. and Kenneth Holstein. 2023. Understanding Frontline Workers’ and Unhoused
Individuals’ Perspectives on AI Used in Homeless Services. In Proceedings of
As P5 mentioned above, cheat sheet can be very helpful to students. the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1–17. https:
For example, prior research has shown that the process of creating //doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580882
a cheat sheet helps students by forcing them to organize the learned [14] Michael J Lee and Andrew J Ko. 2011. Personifying programming tool feed-
back improves novice programmers’ learning. In Proceedings of the seventh
concepts [9]. It may be interesting to see whether having students international workshop on Computing education research. 109–116. https:
create a cheat sheet for programming with comics helps them learn //doi.org/10.1145/2016911.2016934
[15] Linda Liukas. [n.d.]. Hello Ruby. http://www.helloruby.com/educators Accessed
better. Finally, a recent work showed that we can use comics to on November 21, 2019.
elicit discussions around how AI models are trained among those [16] Michelle Manno. 2014. Comics in the Classroom: Teaching Content with Comics.
without training in or knowledge of AI [13]. We could potentially https://teach.com/blog/teaching-content-with-comics/ Accessed on January 17,
2020.
use this as an opportunity for students to learn AI ethics. [17] Richard E Mayer. 2005. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The Cambridge
handbook of multimedia learning 41 (2005), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/
CBO9781139547369.005
6 CONCLUSION [18] Scott McCloud. 1993. Understanding comics: The invisible art. Northampton,
In this work, we developed a cheat sheet for teaching programming Mass (1993).
[19] Timothy S McNerney. 2004. From turtles to Tangible Programming Bricks:
with comics. To develop this cheat sheet, we reviewed prior work explorations in physical language design. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 8,
on this topic, analyzed 26 coding strips, and formulated the concept- 5 (2004), 326–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-004-0295-6
[20] Dagmar Monett and T Weishaar. 2015. Evolving lesson plans to assist edu-
language-procedure framework to delineate various ways comics cators: From paper-based to adaptive lesson planning. In Proceedings of the
can be used to facilitate the teaching of programming concepts, Multidisciplinary Academic Conference on Education, Teaching and Learning.
languages, and procedures. We evaluated this cheat sheet with https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1116.0404
[21] Cecily Morrison, Nicolas Villar, Anja Thieme, Zahra Ashktorab, Eloise Taysom,
seven high school CS teachers and found that they find it easy Oscar Salandin, Daniel Cletheroe, Greg Saul, Alan F Blackwell, Darren Edge,
to read/understand, useful, well-structured, and are interested in et al. 2020. Torino: A tangible programming language inclusive of children
learning more about teaching programming with comics. with visual disabilities. Human–Computer Interaction 35, 3 (2020), 191–239.
https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2018.1512413
[22] Tomohiro Nishida, Susumu Kanemune, Yukio Idosaka, Mitaro Namiki, Tim Bell,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and Yasushi Kuno. 2009. A CS unplugged design pattern. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
41, 1 (2009), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1145/1508865.1508951
This research was funded by the Learning Innovation and Technol- [23] Mitchel Resnick, John Maloney, Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Natalie Rusk, Evelyn
Eastmond, Karen Brennan, Amon Millner, Eric Rosenbaum, Jay S Silver, Brian
ogy Enhancement (LITE) Seed Grant at the University of Waterloo. Silverman, et al. 2009. Scratch: Programming for all. Commun. Acm 52, 11 (2009),
I would like to thank Sandy Graham for the invitation to present at 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1145/1592761.1592779
the CEMC Bringing Teachers Together Virtually Conference and [24] Sangho Suh. 2020. Promoting Meaningful Learning by Supporting Interplay
within Abstraction Ladder. In 2020 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and
teachers for their participation and feedback. Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC). IEEE, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1109/VL/
HCC50065.2020.9127251
[25] Sangho Suh. 2022. Coding Strip: A Tool for Supporting Interplay within Abstraction
REFERENCES Ladder for Computational Thinking. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Waterloo.
[1] 2014. Creative Computing Curriculum. https://creativecomputing.gse.harvard. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/18318
edu/creative-computing-curriculum.html Last Accessed: 2022-08-07. [26] Sangho Suh and Pengcheng An. 2022. Leveraging Generative Conversational
[2] 2019. Coding Strip. https://codingstrip.github.io/ Last Accessed: 2022-08-03. AI to Develop a Creative Learning Environment for Computational Thinking.
[3] 2019. Pixton. https://www.pixton.com/ Last Accessed: 2022-06-05. In 27th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces. 73–76. https:
[4] Benjamin Bach, Zezhong Wang, Matteo Farinella, Dave Murray-Rust, and //doi.org/10.1145/3490100.3516473
Nathalie Henry Riche. 2018. Design patterns for data comics. In Proceed- [27] Sangho Suh, Sydney Lamorea, Edith Law, and Leah Zhang-Kennedy. 2022. Priva-
ings of the 2018 chi conference on human factors in computing systems. 1–12. cyToon: Concept-driven Storytelling with Creativity Support for Privacy Con-
https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173612 cepts. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1145/3532106.3533557
[5] Neil Cohn and Hannah Campbell. 2015. Navigating comics II: Constraints on the [28] Sangho Suh, Celine Latulipe, Ken Jen Lee, Bernadette Cheng, and Edith Law.
reading order of comic page layouts. Applied Cognitive Psychology 29, 2 (2015), 2021. Using Comics to Introduce and Reinforce Programming Concepts in CS1. In
193–199. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3086 Proceedings of the 52nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education.
[6] Timothy R Colburn and Gary M Shute. 2008. Metaphor in computer science. 585–590. https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432465
Journal of Applied Logic 6, 4 (2008), 526–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jal.2008.09. [29] Sangho Suh, Martinet Lee, Gracie Xia, et al. 2020. Coding strip: A pedagogical
005 tool for teaching and learning programming concepts through comics. In 2020
[7] K-12 Computer Science Framework Steering Committee et al. 2016. K-12 computer IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC).
science framework. ACM. https://k12cs.org/ IEEE, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1109/VL/HCC50065.2020.9127262
[30] Sangho Suh, Jian Zhao, and Edith Law. 2022. CodeToon: Story Ideation, Auto [32] Zezhong Wang, Shunming Wang, Matteo Farinella, Dave Murray-Rust, Nathalie
Comic Generation, and Structure Mapping for Code-Driven Storytelling. In Henry Riche, and Benjamin Bach. 2019. Comparing Effectiveness and Engage-
The 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. ment of Data Comics and Infographics. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference
https://doi.org/10.1145/3526113.3545617 on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 253. https://doi.org/10.1145/
[31] Zezhong Wang, Lovisa Sundin, Dave Murray-Rust, and Benjamin Bach. 2020. 3290605.3300483
Cheat sheets for data visualization techniques. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI [33] Gene Yang. 2016. Why comics belong in the classroom. https://www.youtube.
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1–13. https://doi.org/10. com/watch?v=Oz4JqAJbxj0&feature=youtu.be. Last Accessed: 2020-02-10.
1145/3313831.3376271