Novice Java programmers' conceptions of "object" and "class", and variation theory

Problems with understanding concepts, so called misconceptions, have been investigated and reported in a number of studies regarding object-oriented programming [4], [3]. In a first programming course using an object-oriented language, it is of great importance that students get a good understanding of central concepts like object and class at an early stage of their education. We have, with a phenomenographic research approach, performed a study with first year university students, investigating what an understanding of the concepts object and class includes from a student perspective. By applying variation theory [8] to our results we are able to pin-point what the students need to be able to discern in order to gain a “rich” understanding of these concepts. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.2 [COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION]: Computer and Information Science Education—Computer science edu

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ITICSE
• Authors: Anna Eckerdal, Michael Thuné
• Keywords: ITICSE 2005, Object-oriented Programming, Phenomenographic Research Approach, first Programming Course