Nico Chen

Nico first joined The Crucible community as our Fuego Coordinator, working with our teen leadership program during the summers.

Nico is a Ph.D. student in the Teaching and Learning Department at NYU Steinhardt. He is a critical learning scientist seeking to use design-based research with the purpose of re-envisioning English Language Learners as Multilingual Multicultural Makers (M3) through linguistically-responsive teaching, culturally-responsive teaching, and maker-centered learning. In embarking on this research, Nico wants to empower teachers to design with the whole child in mind.

In embarking on this research, Nico wants to empower teachers to design with the whole child in mind. His research also encompasses the topics of Arts-Centered Integrated Learning, Critical Literacy, Pedagogical Language Knowledge, Teacher Burnout, and Teacher Identity.

In the past, Nico worked as an English Language Arts teacher in Oakland, CA and as an international educator in a variety of projects in Kazakhstan, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, and Senegal. His forte is in designing learning environments with an emphasis on creativity, English language acquisition, critical thinking, and cross-cultural empathetic communication.