Catherine Chase conducts research and teaches about STEM education, educational technology, learning sciences, and cognitive science. Her research explores the design of STEM instruction for children and adults, with a focus on inventive, exploratory, and discovery-oriented learning activities. She is particularly interested in how the design of STEM activities and learning technologies affects students’ abilities to adapt their knowledge in novel situations and deal with failure in healthy ways. To do this research, Chase employs a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She has designed and developed several new learning technologies such as intelligent coaching environments and educational games for K-8 STEM learners. Chase has also consulted with organizations looking to enhance their teaching/training by applying principles of effective learning design.
Chase holds a PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University’s School of Education, an M.S.Ed. in Science Teaching from CUNY–Brooklyn College, and a B.A.S. in Biology and Psychology from Stanford University. She also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. Her interest in educational research was sparked by five years of teaching K-8 science in public and private schools in Brooklyn, New York.
Catherine C. Chase 