Research Interests 
Children's thinking; problem solving; analogical reasoning; scientific reasoning; microgenetic analysis of learning processes.

Diversity Statement 
Diversity brings strength to my teaching, mentoring, research, and outreach activities. I contribute to diversity by mentoring minority graduate students and postdoc scholars, by welcoming diverse groups of undergraduate students to work in my lab, by discussing ethnic, gender, and cultural diversity issues in my courses, by addressing research issues related to cultural and environmental factors (e.g., SES) in my studies, and by participating in STEM engagement outreach activities (with the UC C-STEM Center) that involve diverse children (including under-represented minority students), parents and teachers in California.

Selected Publications 

Blums, A., Grimm, K., Belsky, J. & Chen, Z. (2017) Building Links Between Early Socioeconomic Status, Cognitive Ability and School STEM Achievement. Journal of Cognition and Development, 18: 16-40.

Chen, Z., Honomichl, R., Kennedy, D. & Tan, D. (2016). Aiming to complete the matrix: Eye-movement analysis of processing strategies in children's relational thinking. Developmental Psychology, 52: 867-878.

Chen, Z., & Siegler, R. S. (in press). Young children's analogical problem solving: Gaining insights from video displays. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Chen, Z. (2012). The learning of science and the science of learning: The role of analogy. In S. Carver & J. Shrager (Eds.), The journey from child to scientist: Integrating cognitive development and the education sciences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Tsubota, Y., & Chen, Z. (2012). How do young children's spatio-symbolic skills change over short time scales? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111, 1-21.

Klahr, D., & Chen, Z. (2011). Finding one's place in the transfer space. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 196-204.

Honomichl, R. D., & Chen, Z. (2011). Relations as rules: The role of attention in Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Developmental Psychology, 47, 50-60.

Chen, Z., & Klahr, D. (2008). Remote transfer of scientific reasoning and problem-solving strategies in children. In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior: Vol. 36 (pp. 419 - 470). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Chen, Z. (2007). Learning to map: Strategy discovery and strategy change in young children. Developmental Psychology, 43, 386-403.

Chen, Z., Mo, L., & Honomichl, R. (2004). Having the Memory of an Elephant: Long-Term Retrieval and the Use of Analogues in Problem Solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 415-433.

Chen, Z., & Mo, L., (2004). Schema induction in problem solving: A multi-dimensional analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 583-600.

Chen, Z., & Siegler, R. S. (2000). Across the great divide: Bridging the gap between understanding of toddlers' and older children's thinking. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65 (2, Serial No. 261).

Chen, Z., & Klahr, D. (1999). All other things being equal: Children's acquisition of the Control of Variables Strategy. Child Development. 70, 1098-1120.

Chen, Z., Sanchez, R., & Campbell, T. (1997). From beyond to within their grasp: Analogical problem solving in 10- and 13-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 33, 790-801.