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, 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. 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. Tolbert's postdoctoral research was focused on facilitating social justice education for minoritized students and teachers. She is Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Education. 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 ==