Background. Dr Chu joined Macquarie University’s Department of Educational Studies as a Lecturer in January 2015. Before joining Macquarie she was Assistant Professor in the Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group in the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. At NIE she coordinated and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in physics teaching methods, assessment in science and science education research methods, and carried out research on students’ conceptual development and beliefs in science learning.

Before joining NIE, she worked with Prof David F Treagust at Curtin Univeristy in Perth as a post-doctoral research fellow. Their main research focus was developing two-tier diagnostic assessment questions to support school teachers' lesson design as well as on-going classroom assessment.

After her PhD studies, she worked at Dankook University in Korea as a lecturer and researcher. She taught general physics courses for first year univeristy students and science education courses in undergradute and graduate schools. She was involved in Korean students' enviromental literacy project as a lead research fellow. The project conducted across 9 schools in urban and rural areas involving more than 7,000 students in Years 3, 5, 8 and 11. 

Employment History:

• Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (2020- now)
• Lecturer, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (2015- 2019)
• Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, Singapore (2008-2015)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow (KRF and DKU funded), Curtin University, Perth, Australia (2005-2008)
• Teaching and Research Fellow, Dankook University, Seoul, Korea (2003-2005)

Teaching. At Macquarie University she teaches courses in secondary science pedagogy, where she encourages student teachers to study and apply evidence-based methods of making science relevant to young learners’ everyday life.

Research. Dr. Chu's research has focused on several key areas, including monitoring students’ understanding of science concepts, implementing formative assessment in science classrooms, interdisciplinary approaches to teaching science, affective factors affecting science learning, and the integration of the arts into the teaching of science and related subjects (STEAM). Additionally, she has conducted research in conceptual development in science learning, tracking students’ concept development through text (language) analysis, interdisciplinary teaching of environmental literacy with science, and the influence of student beliefs on science learning. Recently, her work has expanded to include studies on the application of AI in education. Her research has been published in leading science education journals, showcasing her contributions to these fields.

Reseach Interests:

• Identification, design, and implementation of innovative intervention strategies (e.g., STEAM, SSIs, STEM, Maker Space) to enhance students’ learning and attitudes toward science.
• Design of tests and assessment instruments to diagnose student understanding in specific science content areas.
• Development and evaluation of AI-integrated tools for science classrooms to improve student learning and motivation.
• Utilizing multimodal approaches to support and enhance students' meaning-making processes in science education.

Current Project. Her current research project focuses on a STEAM initiative that explores methods for integrating the arts and culture into science teaching, and examines how STEAM influences students’ concept development in science, as well as their beliefs and engagement in science study. Since 2015, she has secured several Australian and international grants to support her STEAM research. In addition to this, she is conducting two AI-related projects funded by Macquarie University's Data Horizons Research Centre. One project investigates the effects of AI-generated feedback and AI-provided guidance on concept development in science learning, along with student attitudes towards using AI in education. The other project involves developing AI tools designed to assess understanding and enhance performance in science learning.

Project Grant: With colleagues at Macquarie University, she has successfully been the recipient of five MQ grants (3 x $5000, one $10000 and one $20000). Each grant involved innovations in teacher education to help preservice science teachers be more effective in teaching and assessment when they commence their careers.

With international colleagues, have successfully been the recipient of five external grants. She led two grants (Total funds – over $200K) funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to development intercultural understanding via STEAM education and two small international grants - one with colleague in Indonesia and another with colleagues in Korea. She was a team member of a grant from the NSW Department of Education to support STEM mid-career professionals into the teaching professions (Total funds - over $1 million)

Research Outputs: Her work has been published in Q1 research journals - Research in Science Educations, International Journal of Science Education, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Research in Science and Technology Education and a new Q2 journal. Asia-Pacific Science Education, and two book chapters published by Springer.

Research Supervision: As the primary supervisor, She has successfully supervised two full-time doctoral and six full-time Masters by research students. She is the current primary supervisor of three full-time and two part-time doctoral students and one part-time Masters by research student.