The aim of this study was to compare the analytical thinking skills of the 8th grade students who received emergency distance and face-to-face education in a science course and to get student ideas concerning emergency distance education. An unequal control group model from the quasi-experimental models was used in the study. The study group consisted of 39 students. Fifteen students who received energy transformations and environmental science unit as emergency distance education constituted the first group and 24 students who received face-to-face education constituted the second group. The data were collected with ATAT, TATDL, and SOF. In conclusion, it was determined that the cognitive success of the students who received face-to-face education based on analytical thinking improved more. The ability to adapt analytical thinking to daily life developed equally in both groups. While the students who received emergency distance education did not express a negative opinion about the activities carried out in the teaching process, they stated negative opinions about the realization of this process online, such as internet shortage, lack of communication tools, noise, occasional power cuts, inefficiency compared to face-to-face education, difficulty in understanding the lesson, difficulty in speaking in front of the screen, inability of the teacher to be effective in distance education, and inability to experiment together. However, there were also students who expressed a positive opinion that the course was productive, interesting, calm, more comfortable than face-to-face education, and safer to protect from the disease. As a result, it is thought that emergency distance education cannot replace face-to-face education; however, it is an effective education process that can be applied to prevent students from being completely disconnected from school and education during periods when lessons cannot be continued due to extraordinary circumstances such as pandemic.