Ben Kirshner

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 young people’s critical consciousness and roles in social justice change. Ben works collaboratively with educators, community organizers, and youth to design and study learning environments that support learning, activism, and healing for marginalized youth. In his work with the Transformative Student Voice research group, Ben develops research-practice partnerships that increase public schools’ capacity to support student voice and agency through teacher professional learning, policy alignment, and improvement research. With Voices of Healing he works with young people and community youth organizations to explore how the long struggle for social change can be paired with healing and collective care. Ben recently published two co-authored books: Transformative Student Voice: Partnering with Young People for Equitable School Improvement and Transformative Student Voice for Teachers: A Guide to Classroom Action. Ben has also published in journals that include Journal of the Learning Sciences, Journal of Research on Adolescence, Applied Developmental Science, Journal of Community Psychology and Cognition and Instruction.