An examination of 7th grade middle school students' cognitive structures regarding the concept of social media within the context of social studies through metaphors

The aim of this study is to examine the cognitive structures of 7th-grade students regarding the concept of social media within the context of social studies through metaphors. The study group consists of 346 7th-grade students enrolled in private and public schools in Antalya during the 2022–2023 academic year. The research employs qualitative research designs, phenomenology. Data were collected using a data collection form structured in three sections based on a review of the literature. In the first section, students were asked to complete the sentence, "Social media is like... / similar to... because...". In the second section, they were instructed to create drawings reflecting what the concept of social media evoked for them. Finally, in the third section, students were requested to express their thoughts on the concept of social media in a brief essay. Descriptive analysis and content analysis were used to analyze the data. When the results of the study are evaluated as a whole, it has been determined that students most frequently explained the concept of social media using metaphors such as "place of entertainment," "book," and "cigarette". The metaphors created for the concept of social media have been classified into eight themes based on their shared characteristics, and it has been determined that the majority of the metaphors are grouped under the theme of "social media as an element of entertainment and time-passing". The drawings created by the students were categorized into six mental images, with the majority falling under the mental image of 'conscious use and awareness. The compositions written by the students were evaluated under six themes, with the predominant theme also identified as "conscious use and awareness". An analysis of the students' metaphors, drawings, and compositions related to the concept of social media revealed that metaphors and drawings within the "addictive nature" theme were mutually supportive, and that content in the metaphor theme "social media as an influencing factor on individuals" and the composition theme "conscious use and awareness" also supported each other. The results of the research reveal that students possess rich cognitive structures regarding the concept of social media and are media literate.