Research
Currently, I am a sixth year doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), with a concentration in Human Development, Learning, and Teaching. At Harvard, I use mixed-methods and critical participatory research to explore sociopolitical development and socialization within adult-child relationships and design educational activities for families. In particular, I’m interested in the development of children’s understanding of social justice and injustice, and I aim to use research into that topic as a tool to promote partnership and reciprocity between institutions, researchers, educators, and families. I received an EdM in Human Development and Psychology from HGSE in 2020.
I have a BA in music and psychology from Williams College, where I graduated as valedictorian. At Williams, I conducted research with Susan Engel in educational psychology, as well as with Jennifer Bloxam in musicology and with Stephen Sheppard in community development. I completed a senior thesis in psychology with Susan Engel, in which I investigated how young children make use of narrative in discussing, learning, and inventing abstract ideas.
Previous Work
Presentations
Kirby, A.L., & Valela, L. (2022) Beyond Student Support: Reinventing Student Affairs for Student-Caregivers and Their Families. Presentation at the NASPA conference, virtual.
Kirby, A.L. & Dahbi, M. (2021) Use of music-based activities to support early childhood development and education. Conversation roundtable at the Society for Research in Child Development conference, virtual.
Kirby, A.L., Sharick, A. & Valela, L. (2021) A relational approach to supporting graduate student-parents and families. Presentation at the NASPA conference, virtual.
Wei, R., Kirby, A.L., Naigles, L. & Rowe, M. (2020) Parents’ talk about conceptual categories with infants: Stability, variability, and implications for expressive language development. Presentation at the Max Planck Institute Many Paths to Language conference, virtual.
Kirby, A.L., (2019) Perspective-taking as the beginning of epistemological understanding, Presentation at the New England Philosophy of Education Society conference, Boston, MA. Download slides here.
Publications
Mariën, H. K., Kirby, A. L. (2023). The Power Rainbow: A tool to support 3rd–5th graders in analyzing systems of power. Frontiers in Education, 8.
Kirby, A. L., Dahbi, M., Surrain, S., Rowe, M. L., & Luk, G. (2022). Music Uses in Preschool Classrooms in the US: A Multiple-Methods Study. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-15.
Rowe, M. L., Kirby, A. L., Dahbi, M., & Luk, G. (2022). Promoting Language and Literacy Skills through Music in Early Childhood Classrooms. The Reading Teacher.
Wei, R., Kirby, A. L., Naigles, L. R. & Rowe, M. L. (2022). Parents’ talk about conceptual categories with infants: stability, variability, and implications for expressive language development. Journal of Child Language, 1-22.
Kirby, A. L. (2021). Book Review of Schooling for Critical Consciousness: Engaging Black and Latinx Youth in Analyzing, Navigating, and Challenging Racial Injustice by Seider, S. & Graves, D. Harvard Educational Review, 91(3) 409-411.
Kirby, A. L. & Harris, P. L. (2020) The case of common humanity: Towards a deeper understanding of children’s social ideas. Journal of Moral Education, 50(4), 401-418.
DeLoi (Kirby), A. L., (2018) Storytellers and philosophers: How children learn to think about ideas, Senior Honors Thesis, Williams College Psychology Department. Download here.
