Dual instructional support materials for introductory object-oriented programming: Classes vs. objects

Visualizations are widely used in programming courses but the integration of these software tools into classrooms is not straightforward since there is a lack of information about the real benefits for learning and how to combine them with traditional lectures. We describe in this paper an experiment of using dual instructional support materials (textual and visual programs) in the lab classes in a Java-based CS1 course. The approach consists of two phases: students work the class concept in a traditional programming environment and the object concept in a visual environment as Greenfoot. The experiment shows positive results in terms of concepts understanding in students with no prior programming experience. Therefore we also suggest this as a possible way for integrating visualizations to the course.