The present research is part of the government funded project called Young Engineer's Workshop (YEW), a 2‐week‐long summer camp for youngsters to stimulate their interest in coding, electronics and robotics subjects in particular and STEAM fields in general. The YEW curriculum included basic electronics, block‐based programming and robotics through Scratch and Arduino, and student projects on building robotics systems. This experimental study aimed to investigate the cognitive and affective consequences of YEW on the development of middle and high school students' computational thinking (CT) competences. The research methodology was based on a one‐group pretest–posttest model within a quasi‐experimental design. Participants were 17 students from grades 5–6 and 15 students from grades 9–10 in a southwestern city of Turkey. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through the YEW application form, a scale for CT, a satisfaction questionnaire, and student diaries. The results showed a significant increase on algorithmic and critical thinking factors of CT whereas no significant changes in creativity, cooperation, and problem‐solving factors of CT. Students reported affective gains including high satisfaction and enjoyment of YEW activities, increased interest, and career planning in programming and robotics fields, and improved self‐confidence in robotics project development. In conclusion, the study suggests that teaching programming can be an effective way to foster CT to some extent but not an adequate or complete solution. Educators need to seek more suitable teaching methods for a more comprehensive learning of CT that can be transferable to noncomputing contexts.

中文翻译：

---

机器人程序设计教育对计算思维能力的影响：年轻工程师研讨会（YEW）的干预

本研究是政府资助的名为“青年工程师工作室”（YEW）的项目的一部分，该项目为期2周，为青少年举办的夏令营，以激发他们对编码，电子和机器人技术尤其是STEAM领域的兴趣。YEW课程包括基础电子学，通过Scratch和Arduino进行的基于块的编程和机器人技术，以及有关构建机器人系统的学生项目。这项实验研究旨在调查YEW对中高中学生计算思维（CT）能力发展的认知和情感影响。该研究方法基于准实验设计中的一组前测-后测模型。参与者是土耳其西南部城市的5-6年级的17名学生和9-10年级的15名学生。通过YEW申请表，CT量表，满意度调查表和学生日记收集了定量和定性数据。结果显示，CT的算法和批判性思维因素显着增加，而CT的创造力，合作和解决问题的因素没有显着变化。学生报告了情感收获，包括对YEW活动的高度满意和享受，对编程和机器人领域的兴趣和职业规划的增加，以及对机器人项目开发的自信心的增强。总而言之，研究表明，教学编程可以在某种程度上是促进CT的有效方法，但不是充分或完整的解决方案。