Analyzing Breadth and Depth of a Virtual Charter School's Science Curriculum

This case study analyzes five science courses of a United States virtual charter school. Online quizzes and exams are provided by the corporate partner, while local teachers have selected report topics, virtual labs and at-home labs for students to complete. These assessments were coded for their correlation to the cognitive levels of the revised Bloom's taxonomy and the US NSES (National Science Education Standards). The remembering level was associated with the largest number of quiz and exam questions. However, analysis and application were also frequently assessed. Most of the standards were assessed at some point. The teacher selected projects address science inquiry standards but not additional content standards. The projects often required higher levels of thinking. Recommendations for teachers in virtual K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) schools are made to select additional content that focuses on key concepts and include more application, analysis, evaluation and creation. (Contains 7 tables.)