This study aimed to find out the correlation between emotional levels and friendship in science learning. The participants in this study were 30 third-grade students at a girls’ middle school in a Korean metropolitan city. For nine months, their science classes were conducted by one teacher in charge of science class and five students were organized into a group. The science learning emotional test tool consisted of 35 questions on the rating scale of 5 phases and the peer nomination method was adopted for the friendship survey in science learning. The test was conducted during the last hour of science class. In the results of analyzing students’ science learning emotion levels, students showed high average scores in three emotional elements of positive science learning (joy, satisfaction, and interest), showing overall positive feelings about science learning. After analyzing friendship among the students, the connection between students was analyzed to be close to 1 and none of the students were isolated. Two out of 30 students were given ninth appointment from peers and formed a central axis in the classroom network. On the other hand, two students in the class were not chosen by other students and only pointed out helpful colleagues in science learning. After analyzing the correlation between the emotional level and friendship in science learning based on these two studies, it was analyzed that there was a strong static correlation between two variables. Therefore, since the bond between emotion and friendship in science learning is closely related, there is a need for science learning to take into account the interrelationship between two variables.

This study analyzed differences in Korean middle school students’ scientific interpretation of the energy pyramid diagram, which is a central concept of ecosystem learning, based on whether or not arrows were presented in the chart. Two classes that did not show statistically significant differences in school science academic achievement were selected. One class was shown the energy pyramid diagram with arrows, and the other without.  A quasi-experimental design was adopted for quantitative research. The study found that the group interpreting the energy pyramid with arrows had a statistically significant scientific interpretation than the group interpreting the energy pyramid without arrows. In other words, arrows aided understanding of the concepts of size, biomass, and energy transfer of biological elements in the energy pyramid. In addition, the arrows aided understanding of the meaning of each piece of a pie chart, as the amount of biomass or energy being transferred to the next level of nutrition as pieces of a pie chart. Thus, it was concluded that the arrows in the energy pyramid were efficient visual elements in conveying the flow of matter and energy between living creatures. Based on the results, this study recommends that science textbooks should use arrows for more efficient understanding of scientific phenomena throughout textbooks beyond only the “ecosystem” topic.

In this study, inquiry science experiment classes for 30 students and noninquiry science experiment classes for different 30 students in the chapter named “Animals and Energy” of the second year of Korean middle school were conducted by the same teacher and the same class (6th class), The peer relationship between classmates before and after class was compared and analyzed by using a social network analysis method. As a result of the study, it was found that the inquiry experiment class has higher tie density, average number of friends, and connection compared to the noninquiry experiment class. In other words, it could be evaluated that the inquiry experiment class has a positive effectiveness on the relationship of the companion rather than the noninquiry experiment class. In the results of analyzing the status of fellowship relations regarding the degree of being nominated by fellow students and the degree of perfect connection within the group, it was evaluated that the inquiry experiment class was more effectiveness in improving the ratings of members and forming a fully connected community compared to the noninquiry experiment class. In addition, from a point of view that the type of alienation pattern decreases a lot in inquiry experiment class compared to noninquiry experiment class, it could be evaluated that there is a high possibility tha everyone participates in inquiry activities without alienated students in an experiment class.