Objects+(Trevor+Jewkes)

Teaching the basics of objects and using object based techniques to accomplish many programs.

Intro: A basic description of objects and why they are so useful in programming.



Activity: Have the user interact with a game-based applet that incorporates objects to increase interest. (This activity is not necessary but would be a good way to grab attention.)

Activity: Take a common real-world object and break it down into the same components as a software object.



Activity: Differences between public and private variables. Have an example of what a goal of an object is and have the user decide whether a variable should be private or public based on what they need to accomplish. The text in the box says, "A scenario for an object would go here. Then using a block system, such as the one to the right, the user would place the variables into the categories "Public" or "Private" depending upon how they would need to be used. The block system would need to be customized so that the interface would be appropriate for the desired outcome."



(UML) Mr. Weeks: it seems that there could be several ILM's each with multiple activities created for working with and understanding objects--public, private, constructors, data, methods, inheritance, etc. Using the block arrangement like with google's app inventor could allow teaching object concepts without a lot of the syntax load.

Vicki: For me, I didn't understand objects until I considered maintenance issues. I would love to give them a maintenance task and have them see how objects help. HOWEVER, the code dealing with objects is huge - so it would be difficult to make it reasonable.