In recent years, the importance of the object-oriented paradigm has changed significantly. Initially it was mainly used in software engineering, but it is now being used more and more in education. This thesis applies methods of educational assessment and statistics to object-oriented programming and in doing so provides a broad overview of concepts, teaching methods, and the current state of research in this field of computer science.

Recently, there have been various trends in introductory courses for object-oriented programming including objects-first and objects-later. Using current pedagogical concepts such as cognitive load theory, conceptual change, and self-directed learning in the context of this work, a teaching approach that dispenses almost entirely of instruction by teachers was developed. These minimally invasive programming courses (MIPC) were carried out in several passes in preliminary courses in the Department of Computer Science at the TU M�nchen. The students were confronted with a small programming task just before the first lecture. Using worksheets that were based on the objects-first approach, the essential object-oriented programming concepts were presented with brief explanations. A student tutor was set aside to support each group.