OBJECTS-FIRST VS. STRUCTURES-FIRST APPROACHES TO OO PROGRAMMING EDUCATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
Richard A. Johnson, Duane R. Moses · Academy of Information and Management Sciences journal · 2008
Software development is a cornerstone of information technology and computer programming is a key element of software development. Teaching computer programming to undergraduates can be challenging. Adding to the challenge is the near universality of the object-oriented paradigm in computer programming courses. A key question facing programming instructors is whether to take an objects-first approach or a structures-first approach in the classroom. Conventional wisdom seems to favor an objects-first approach, but no hard empirical evidence exists on this question. This study performs a field experiment by having two nearly equivalent sections of introductory Java programming test these two fundamental approaches to OO programming education. The results clearly indicate that students who take an objects-first approach to OO programming outperform those who take a structures-first approach.