Middle school students' use of inscriptions on different socioscientific issues

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of critical friend pairings approach in the written arguments of middle school 8th grade students on socioscientific issues. The research was carried out with 30 students studying in the 8th grade in the autumn semester of 2019-2020 academic year in a village school in the Eastern Anatolia Region. In this action research study, the data was collected before and after the intervention with an open-ended questionnaire, in which there are 8 different data consisting of photographs, drawings, tables and graphics and students are asked to form their written arguments about genetically modified organisms and nuclear energy. In the study, the data were analyzed by content analysis. According to the findings of the research, students mostly used photographs and drawings in their written arguments, the rhetorical use of inscriptions was made to pointing, and in the use of inscriptions students thought that the inscriptions had content on their own, and it was observed that the quality of the written arguments of 20 students increased as a result of the applications. Based on the findings, suggestions for the practitioners were presented.