EPISTEM PODCAST EPISODE 41

<p><strong>EPI•STEM PODCAST — Conversation with Professor Sara Tolbert </strong><em>Originally recorded in June 2025 and republished as part of our continuing EPI•STEM series.</em></p><p>In this episode, co‑hosts <strong>Geraldine Simmie PhD</strong> and <strong>Michelle Starr PhD</strong> speak with <strong>Professor Sara Tolbert</strong>, Professor of STEM Education at the University of Melbourne (Monash), where she co‑leads the <strong>Science Education in the Anthropocene Impact Lab</strong>. The lab is dedicated to reimagining humanity’s relationship with the natural world and exploring how science education must evolve in response to planetary challenges.</p><p>Professor Tolbert, formerly Professor of Science Education at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, discusses how the Impact Lab positions science education at the intersection of <strong>nature, culture, and society</strong>. This framing opens up new questions about how we teach science and how we prepare young people to navigate complex ecological, political, economic, and sociocultural systems shaping contemporary planetary conditions.</p><p>The conversation explores emerging and contested literature reshaping science education as both a theoretical and social movement. Professor Tolbert highlights new strands within the <strong>European Science Education Research Association (ESERA)</strong>—including futurism, intersectionality, inclusion, and expanded knowledge systems—that signal a shift in how science education’s purposes, histories, and practices are being reimagined.</p><p>Today’s musical selection is <strong>“Tears,”</strong> a Cape Breton waltz composed by <strong>Gerry Holland</strong> and performed by <strong>Dr. Avril McLoughlin</strong>, Lecturer in Music Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.</p><p><br></p>