db application using JPA/JDO

I have been tasked with building an application that maintains a simple Student DB to store and process marks of students of 5 departments with 4 batches of students in each dept.

I first thought of developing a UI-dataAccess style application. But Was unable to process because of various complexities and my lack of experience in building db apps with java.

I never thought that OOP models can be used in DB apps. But when I read about it I came across the Persistence API and then the JDO API. And also about ObjectDB with JPA API. I dont know the difference between them.

I searched for good resources to learn it but could find proper sources.

Please can anyone guide me in this topic? I need following help:

1. Resources for learning JDO/JPA
2. Guide me as to how to structure my application.
3. How to wire a JTable to an entity objects
4. And I thought of creating a Student BAse class and derive CSEStudent, EEEStudent, etc for all departments and store student info in it. Is this Class model ok?

Thank you very much in advance!