Nicholas C. Johnson, Ph.D.

UC Los Angeles
nicko@ucla.edu

Nick Johnson is a postdoctoral scholar and teacher educator at UCLA. He supports pre-service and practicing teachers to learn about the development of children’s mathematical thinking and to draw on children’s thinking in instructional decision-making. Nick has been involved in teaching math methods in UCLA’s teacher education program for the past 3 years. Over 18 years in education he has worked as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, county office coordinator, professional development facilitator, and researcher. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in urban schooling, and was a 2016-2017 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. Nick studies learning and teaching through the lens of children’s mathematical thinking, especially as it provides opportunities to recognize children’s strengths, to expand what counts as doing mathematics, and to disrupt societal narratives about who is mathematically capable. He is co-author of Young Children’s Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction in Early Childhood Education.