As a teaching post-doctoral fellow Carrie studied the problem-solving strategies of freshman chemistry students using a semi-structured interview protocol and statistical analysis to determine whether students still demonstrate a gap in conceptual versus algorithmic understanding more than a decade after the phenomenon was first identified in the literature. The long-term goal of the research was to determine how the thought processes of students who excel in both areas differ from those who do not and how best to transfer that knowledge. She has continued examining the metacognitive skills of freshman chemistry students at Tech through projects focusing on group preparation of chapter outlines and documented problem solving in lecture.
