Visualizing the Conceptual Framework of Object Orientation for Novice Programmers

This research-to-practice paper shows how to visualize the conceptual framework of object-oriented programming. 'Classes' and 'objects' (from the solution domain) are respectively visualized as ‘phenomena’ and 'concepts' (from the problem domain), thereby visualizing the connection between code and reality. In the spirit of bringing research-to-practice, we implemented a prototype programming environment for Java called ‘SHowMyCODE’ based on this conceptual visualization. We report on a controlled experiment involving N=138 introductory programming (CS1) students. The experiment involves three tasks with progression (USE, Modify, and Create) and compares a treatment group with the reality-code visualization vs a control group without the visualization. The results show that, for Use tasks, students are faster (but not more accurate) when using the reality-code visualisation. In contrast, for Create tasks, learners are more accurate (but not faster) when using the reality visualisation. Finally, we report that students appear to value a visualization that shows the reality-code connection above a generic visualization without this connection.