Johannah Nikula, mathematics education expert and author, leads a body of research that advances knowledge of how to make engaging, rigorous mathematics accessible to all learners. A senior manager and principal investigator, she partners with teachers, administrators, and state departments of education to develop resources and engage in quantitative and qualitative research. She has expertise in improving instruction for multilingual learners, professional development (PD), middle grades mathematics, fostering geometric thinking and algebraic thinking, and lesson study.
Nikula leads National Science Foundation and Institute of Education Sciences (IES) studies that develop and test PD strategies and produce new resources for teachers. These studies include Analyzing Diagrams, an IES-funded project that is developing and examining fraction division lessons focused on diagramming with built-in supports for multilingual learners. She is also a REL Northeast & Islands partnership lead for a partnership focused on middle grades mathematics and multilingual learners.
Nikula holds an EdM from Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a Technology in Education focus and a BA in Psychology with a Mathematics minor from Middlebury College.