Scientific argument is at the core of scientific inquiry.  Scientists pose questions, make claims, provide evidence, and share ideas with one another in an attempt to uncover patterns and understand our world.  Therefore, one of my roles as a science educator is to provide opportunities for students to question their thinking, make claims, support their claims with evidence, and defend their ideas using scientific principles.  This past week, using their knowledge of genetics principles, inheritance patterns, Punnett squares, and pedigrees, 8th graders analyzed fruit fly data in order to answer the following two scientific questions:  Which mode of inheritance does the curly wing trait follow?  Which mode of inheritance does the yellow body trait follow?  Students had to state a claim, provide evidence, and explain through scientific reasoning how the evidence supported their claim.  From this initial work, student wrote a narrative argument.  The collaboration, deep analysis, rich dialogue, and willingness to continually improve their writing was inspiring.