Enhancing an object-oriented curriculum: metacognitive assessment and training

In this paper we describe the development and analysis of a computer science curriculum that fully embraces the object-oriented (OO) paradigm. The curriculum addresses the three components that the ACM has recommended for a computer science curriculum: concepts, skills, and abilities. Our vision for the curriculum moves beyond a scheme of integrated courses to incorporate research from the field of cognitive psychology with the idea of retaining more students by bolstering their cognitive skills. Good object-oriented design (OOD) requires such critical skills as strategic planning, analogical problem solving, and mental modeling. Past approaches have assumed either that these skills are learned as an incidental by-product of traditional training approaches or that they are inherent to the individual student. We suggest specific ways in which the assessment and training of these key metacognitive skills can be incorporated into the curriculum.