This work-in-progress paper investigates how blockbased programming interfaces can support students in solving assembly programming tasks, a topic that remains a stable component of many computer science curricula. Although a wide range of educational tools, such as emulators and visualization environments, exists to support learning assembly programming, they typically rely on text-based interfaces. While block-based programming has been widely studied in introductory programming education, little is known about its applicability to assembly programming. To explore the impact of using block-based editors for assembly programming tasks on student performance, we conducted a quasi-experimental study at HTL Leonding, an Austrian vocational secondary school specializing in computer science (n = 75; mean age = 15.7 years). Participants took part in an assembly programming competition consisting of 12 tasks and were assigned, via a grade-balanced allocation, to either a block-based (experimental) or a text-based (control) interface. Students could submit their solutions directly within the tool, where they were automatically graded by a submission grader. Upon successful completion, students advanced to the next task. Using a Mann-Whitney U test, we found that within a time frame of 45 minutes, the difference between the number of tasks solved by students using the block-based interface and those solved by students using a text-based interface was significant in favor of the block-based condition (Mann–Whitney U = 341.5, p = 8.15 × 10−5). These results suggest that block-based interfaces can lower barriers to solving assembly programming tasks, making practical exercises more accessible in educational settings.

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