Carla van Boxtel conducts research into the teaching of history and heritage, with a particular focus on the question of how to build historical thinking and reasoning abilities. She also investigates how history and heritage education can give children and young people insight into the many ways in which past events are significant to today's world. Her research spans the interface between the disciplines of history and the education sciences.

Van Boxtel is one of the contributors to the 'Mastery of Teaching Methodology' (Meesterschap in de vakdidactiek) programme set up by the Humanities Incentive Board (Regieorgaan Geesteswetenschappen) to provide an impetus for strengthening teaching methods in Humanities research and education.

Van Boxtel has worked at the UvA's Graduate School of Teaching and Learning since 2006 and is also the director of the National Expertise Centre for Humanities (Landelijk Expertisecentrum Mens- en Maatschappijvakken, LEMM). From 2008 to 2014 she was professor by special appointment of Historical Culture and Education at Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2009, Van Boxtel won the Outstanding Publication Award, awarded by the European Association of Research in Learning and Instruction for an article in which she and her colleague Jannet Van Drie presented a framework for analysing historical reasoning in the classroom. She has authored numerous publications in journals including Cognition and Instruction, the British Journal of Educational Studies and the Journal of Curriculum Studies. Van Boxtel has also received various grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).