Charles Fitzsimmons

Want to join my lab? I will be accepting a graduate student in Fall 2023 and accept undergraduate students on a rolling basis depending on need and fit. Interested students should send an email outlining why they are interested in my lab, the types of relevant skills and experiences they have, and include their unofficial transcript and resume as attachments.

Much of my work examines thinking and learning within the domain of math. I ask questions like: How do problem features bias or facilitate peoples ability to solve them? Do people have an understanding of different types of numbers? How does their understanding and representation of numbers influence and relate to their ability to solve problems involving numbers? I often examine the way people think and reason about numbers in applied contexts, such as whether they can understand health statistics and how their numer understanding influences their health risk comprehension.

Recently, I have focused on children's and adults' self-regulated learning. In this area, I ask questions like:  Do people know the things they know and don't know? Do people make self-regulatory learning choices, like asking for help or restudying, based on their judgments of their own knowledge? What factors influence people's confidence in their performance? Do people have illusions of their own knowing and learning? Can we improve people's awareness of their own knowledge and understanding? 

Another area of my research looks at the ways we can improve people's understanding of numbers and math. I examine the way example-based instructions and visual displays support people's learning and understanding. I ask questions like: Are examples as effective as feedback for learning? What types of examples help people learn best, and why? What visual displays best support thinking about numbers and why?

Finally, I also look at people's math attitudes and anxiety. I ask questions like: How does math anxiety differ for various types of math and numbers? How do people's attitudes about math relate to their ability to solve math problems?