Her work centres on fostering 21st-century skills, critical thinking, and inclusive science teaching through humanising pedagogy and blended learning approaches. She has coordinated and taught foundational and honours-level Natural Sciences and Physical Sciences courses within initial teacher education programmes and has supervised numerous Honours and Master’s students. Dr van der Westhuizen contributes to research on AI in personalised learning, open educational resources (OER), alternative assessment, and digital pedagogies in science education. She is an active member of professional communities, including SAARMSTE, SAERA, GALA, and HELTASA, and has presented her work at both national and international conferences.

She is committed to transforming science education for diverse learning environments—online and face-to-face—while mentoring emerging academics transitioning into education research.