Nicholas C. Johnson

Nicholas C. Johnson is a mathematics educator and researcher whose work focuses on how classroom interactions shape children’s opportunities to participate in and learn mathematics. He is a co-author of _Young Children’s Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction in Early Childhood Education_, alongside Thomas P. Carpenter, Megan L. Franke, Angela Chan Turrou, and Anita A. Wager. His research highlights children’s mathematical thinking as a lens for recognizing students’ strengths and expanding what “counts” as doing mathematics in school.

Johnson earned his Ph.D. in Urban Schooling from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and has served as a postdoctoral scholar and teacher educator at UCLA. He is an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University, where he continues to investigate how classrooms shape children’s opportunities to engage in mathematics together. A former classroom teacher, instructional coach, and county office coordinator, he collaborates with practicing and prospective teachers to design learning environments that build on young children’s mathematical ideas.