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The Mathematical Education of Teachers as an Application of Undergraduate Mathematics project provides lessons integrated into various mathematics major courses that incorporate mathematics teaching connections as a legitimate application area of undergraduate mathematics. One feature of the lessons involves posing tasks that require undergraduates to interpret or analyze the work of another student. This paper reports on thematic analysis of hour-long interviews for eight participants enrolled in an undergraduate abstract algebra course from two different implementation sites. We focus on student work and reactions to these interpreting or analyzing student thinking (AST) applications as they relate to their perceptions regarding the use of AST applications as a mechanism to both deepen their content knowledge and improve their skills for communicating mathematics. Several participants identify positive benefits, but more research is needed to determine the how to incorporate AST applications to accommodate some participants’ reluctance to engage in new mathematical contexts.