Ben Kirshner is a professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado Boulder.
His experiences working with young people at a community center in San Francisco’s Mission District motivated his research agenda about learning environments that support young people’s critical reflection and collective agency.
In his current work with the Critical Civic Inquiry research group he develops research-practice partnerships that increase public schools’ capacity to support student voice and youth participatory action research through teacher professional learning, policy alignment, and improvement research. With the Research Hub for Youth Organizing, he co-designs educational tools and research studies with youth organizing groups and networks that build capacity for young people to claim power in the public sphere.
Kirshner's 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. Recent courses he has taught include community-based research for social change, leadership development, and youth activism and social movements.
