A radical approach to teaching object-oriented programming

计算机科学（31）本项目改编了最初由布朗大学开发的程序设计入门课程，供罗得岛学院使用。这门课程的特点是广泛使用图形，非常早期的面向对象（封装，继承和多态性都是在算术和控制流等传统主题之前教授的），以及对设计的强烈强调。材料需要调整，因为学生群体非常不同;原来的课程是一个大型讲座课程，新课程分为单独的班级，最多招生26人;新课程每周有一个课堂实验室。最初的课程材料，包括文本的几个章节，一套完整的幻灯片和编程作业，在过去的六年里已经在布朗大学进行了彻底的测试。这些材料既会引起学生的兴趣，也会给他们在面向对象原则方面打下坚实的基础。该项目包括对最终课程的详细评价。通过改编和推广这些材料，该项目使更多的大学甚至高中能够使用这些材料，这可能会对入门编程的教学方式产生广泛的影响。此外，评估的设计和结果甚至对选择不同方法教授这门课程的机构也可能有用。

Computer Science (31)This project adapts an introductory programming course originally developed at Brown University for use at Rhode Island College. This course is characterized by extensive use of graphics, very early object-orientation (encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism are all taught before such traditional topics as arithmetic and flow of control), and a strong emphasis on design. The materials need to be adapted because the student populations are very different; the original course is a large lecture course, and the new course is divided into separate classes with a maximum enrollment of 26; and the new course has a weekly in-class lab. The original course materials, including several chapters of a text, a complete set of slides, and programming assignments, have been thoroughly tested during the past six years at Brown. These materials will both interest students and give them a strong grounding in object-oriented principles. The project includes a detailed evaluation of the resulting course. By adapting and generalizing these materials, the project makes them accessible to more colleges and even high schools, which could have a broad impact on the way introductory programming is taught. Moreover, the design and results of the evaluation could be useful even to institutions that choose a different approach to teaching this course.