Katja Maass' main professional interests are modelling and applications (solving open, realistic problems with the help of mathematics), responsible citizenship education in STEM (e.g. reflecting on how STEM subjects can contribute to solving societal issues (such as climate change, combatting poverty, and combatting diseases) and inquiry-based science teaching. Next to teaching and research in these fields, her work is characterised by a strong practical concern towards advancing science teaching. Typical examples that demonstrate her involvement include her work in teacher prfoessional development, developing state-of-the-art classroom and teacher education and professional development materials, and in disseminating innovative teaching approaches through and by working with a diverse range of actors in science education.
Katja Maass has to date coordinated several large-scale European projects focussing on research, materials development and the broad dissemination of innovative teaching and learning approaches in STEM education (see research and projects). She has proven both her leadership and management capacity through the success of these projects - as exemplified through PRIMAS, which was one of the most successful 'Science in Society' (FP7) projects in recent years and has been identified as a success story by the European Commission.
Katja Maass also has extensive experience designing materials for STEM education. This experience shows e.g. in the projects Mascil, Masdiv, Primas, Compass, as well as in several books containing numerous tasks with authentic real-life contexts. She has well-established, valuable experience in international collaboration in the field of science education research, development and dissemination - and work with research, practice and policy. Thus, she can rely on excellent local and regional connections to teachers and professional development course leaders, educational administrations, school authorities, local and national ministries of Education. At the international level, she maintains contacts to numerous renowned mathematics and science education researchers, teacher educator networks, professional development providers, European policy makers and European institutions, such as Eurydice, and a wide variety of relevant European projects and networks, including Scientix, Science on Stage.
In her research, Katja Maass puts high emphasis on implementing innovative teaching approaches in day-to-day teaching. Her research areas include: the effects of modelling and applications in STEM education on students; the effects of students’ and teachers’ beliefs on learning; interdisciplinary teaching approaches; inquiry-based learning and teaching; and the effects of teacher professional development courses on teaching.
