Sara Tolbert
New Zealand professor of science and environmental education
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Sara Tolbert | |
|---|---|
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Thesis | |
| Doctoral advisor | Trish Stoddart |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Canterbury, University of Arizona |
Academic career
Tolbert taught science and English as a second language in the USA, Mexico, Guatemala and New Zealand, before moving into academia.[1][2] Tolbert has a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master's degree from the University of Georgia, and a PhD 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.[3] She worked as an assistant and then associate professor at the University of Arizona, receiving a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2015.[2][4] Tolbert's postdoctoral research was focused on facilitating social justice education for minoritized students and teachers.[2]
Tolbert joined the faculty of the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor in 2024.[5] She is Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Education.[1] 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".[6] 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.[1]
Selected works
- Kristin L. Gunckel; Sara Tolbert (30 March 2018). "The imperative to move toward a dimension of care in engineering education". Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 55 (7): 938–961. doi:10.1002/TEA.21458. ISSN 0022-4308. Wikidata Q125184573.
- Sara Tolbert; Alexa Schindel; Alberto J. Rodriguez (6 May 2018). "Relevance and relational responsibility in justice‐oriented science education research". Science Education. 102 (4): 796–819. doi:10.1002/SCE.21446. ISSN 0036-8326. Wikidata Q125184575.
- Sara Tolbert (10 April 2015). ""Because they want to teach you about their culture": Analyzing effective mentoring conversations between culturally responsible mentors and secondary science teachers of indigenous students in mainstream schools: CULTURALLY RESPONSIBLE MENTORING IN SCIENCE". Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 52 (10): 1325–1361. doi:10.1002/TEA.21240. ISSN 0022-4308. Wikidata Q126909059.
- Sara Tolbert; Jesse Bazzul (8 July 2016). "Toward the sociopolitical in science education" (PDF). Cultural Studies of Science Education. 12 (2): 321–330. doi:10.1007/S11422-016-9737-5. ISSN 1871-1502. Wikidata Q126909060.
- Edward G. Lyon; Trish Stoddart; George C. Bunch; Sara Tolbert; Ivan Salinas; Jorge Solis (August 2018). "Improving the preparation of novice secondary science teachers for English learners: A proof of concept study". Science Education. 102 (6): 1288–1318. doi:10.1002/SCE.21473. ISSN 0036-8326. Wikidata Q125184572.