Ben Kirshner
Professor of Education, University of Colorado Boulder
About Me
I work collaboratively with educators, community organizers, and students to design and study learning environments that support youth development, youth organizing for human rights, justice, and democracy, and broader institutional change. I'm grateful to be part of several teams doing research in partnership with schools and community organizations where young people from marginalized and minoritized communities work with caring adults to develop their critique, agency, and political power. As co-PI of the Research Hub for Youth Organizing, I work with graduate students to co-design educational tools and research studies with youth organizers; the aim of our work is to build capacity for young people and their organizations to build their political power. With the Critical Civic Inquiry Research Group I co-develop research-practice partnerships with schools working to foster youth sociopolitical learning, YPAR and transformative student voice to make their schools more just. My book, Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality, received the social policy award for best authored book from the Society of Research on Adolescence. I also serve as Editor for the Information Age Press Series on Adolescence and Education.
Participatory Action Research, Youth organizing and movements, learning environments
For more information:
Selected Publications & Projects
Kirshner, B., Tivaringe, T., & Fernandez, J. (2020). “This was 1976 reinvented”: The role of framing in the development of a South African youth movement. Journal of Community Psychology.
Research Hub for Youth Organizing: We co-design educational tools and research studies with youth organizing groups and networks that build capacity for young people to influence policy and public narratives (with current funding from the Ford Foundation and Hewlett Foundation).
Critical Civic Inquiry: We develop and sustain research-practice partnerships with schools working to foster youth sociopolitical learning, YPAR and transformative student voice (with current funding from the Hewlett Foundation, KnowledgeWorks, and WT Grant Foundation).