Sara Tolbert is an American–New Zealand academic, and is a Professor of Science and Environmental Education at the University of Canterbury, specialising in research to facilitate environmental education, including citizen science and science education pedagogy.

Academic career

Tolbert taught science and English as a second language in the USA, Mexico, Guatemala and New Zealand, before moving into academia. Tolbert has a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master's degree from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in science education from the University of California Santa Cruz. Her thesis was titled ''Teaching the content in context: Preparing "highly qualified" and "high quality" teachers for instruction in underserved secondary science classrooms''. She worked as an assistant and then associate professor at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, receiving a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2015. Tolbert's postdoctoral research was focused on facilitating social justice education for minoritized students and teachers. Tolbert joined the faculty of the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor in 2024. She is Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Education. Tolbert was part of a research team that won the 2022 Advancing Sustainability Knowledge Award at Canterbury, recognising work "in developing an innovative course helping trainee teachers create and contribute knowledge for a better society". Her research covers topics such as citizen science, destreaming in mathematics education, and science education pedagogy. With Professor Diane Mollenkopf, Tolbert is co-leader of the Ōtautahi Food Justice Research Collaborative, and with Professor Ben Kennedy she co-directs Canterbury's Learning for Earth Futures research cluster.

Selected works

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References

External links

STEM Education as a Social Movement, Plenary talk by Sara Tolbert
at EpiSTEME, August 2022, via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Sara New Zealand academics New Zealand women academics Academic staff of the University of Canterbury University of Colorado Boulder alumni University of Georgia alumni University of California, Santa Cruz alumni University of Arizona faculty American educators New Zealand educational theorists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people