Beth Pratt-Sitaula

Education and Community Engagement

EarthScope Consortium

Beth Pratt-Sitaula is an Engagement Program Manager for EarthScope Consortium and Research Associate at Central Washington University (CWU). She has extensive experience with geoscience and geohazard education. With EarthScope she is the project manager for GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues and The Math Your Earth Science Majors Need, maintains the Teaching Geodesy Teach The Earth site, and manages a variety of other education and community engagement activities. With CWU, she has been a PI on Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program (CEETEP) and EarthScope Alaska Native Geoscience Learning Experience (ANGLE).

Project Leader, Webinar Leader, Workshop Leader, Website Contributor, Reviewer

Project Leader

GETSI - GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues part of GETSI
The GETSI teaching materials feature geodetic data and quantitative skills applied to societally important issues (climate change, natural hazards, water resources, environmental management). These materials were ...

EarthScope ANGLE part of EarthScope ANGLE
Through a grant from the EarthScope Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), ANGLE offers educator professional development workshops and helps teach student academies for the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP). EarthScope ANGLE contributes to increasing Alaskan resilience to geohazards through education and the development of an action-oriented statewide learning community.

Website Content Contributions

Course Module (1), Activities (14), Courses (3), Essay (1), Conference Presentations (17), Other Contributions (9)

Course Module (1)

Measuring Water Resources part of Measuring Water Resources
Measuring water resources such as groundwater and snowpack is challenging, but the advent of satellite gravity measurements and hydrologic GPS applications can augment traditional methods. This module gives ...

Activities (14)

Plate Tectonics: GPS Data, Boundary Zones, and Earthquake Hazards part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Students work with high precision GPS data to explore how motion near a plate boundary is distributed over a larger region than the boundary line on the map. This allows them to investigate how earthquake hazard ...

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Getting started with Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry method uses overlapping images to create a 3D point cloud of an object or landscape. It can be applied to everything from fault scarps to landslides to topography. This ...

Volcano Monitoring with GPS: Westdahl Volcano Alaska part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Learners use graphs of GPS position data to determine how the shape of Westdahl Volcano, Alaska is changing. If the flanks of a volcano swell or recede, it is a potential indication of magma movement and changing ...

Alaska GPS Analysis of Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
This activity introduces students to high precision GPS as it is used in geoscience research. Students build "gumdrop" GPS units and study data from three Alaska GPS stations from the Plate Boundary Observatory network. They learn how Alaska's south central region is "locked and loading" as the Pacific Plate pushes into North America and builds up energy that will be released in the future in other earthquakes such as the 1964 Alaska earthquake.

Investigating Plate Tectonics with Google Earth part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Activities
Students examine data sets of topography, bathymetry, volcano location, earthquake location and size, and ocean floor age in Google Earth to determine the location and attributes of different types of plate ...

Taking the Pulse of Yellowstone's "Breathing" Volcano part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Activities
In this activity, students learn about volcanism in Yellowstone National Park, focusing on its history of eruptions, recent seismicity, hydrothermal events, and ground deformation. They learn how scientists monitor ...

Introduction to Terrestrial Laser Scanning part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
In this assignment, students analyze terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) data in a similar manner as done previously with structure from motion (SfM) data, earlier in the course. Students compare and contrast the SfM ...

Point Cloud and Raster Change Detection part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
In this assignment, students difference point cloud and raster data sets to compare structure from motion (SfM) and terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) results. They interpret error in these methods used for ...

Structure from Motion for Analysis of River Characteristics part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
In this assignment, students conduct a Structure from Motion (SfM) survey of the Sheep Draw field site along the Poudre River near Greely, CO. The end product is a point cloud used in additional assignments to ...

Ground Control Points for Structure from Motion part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
This assignment uses real-time kinematic GNSS methods to establish ground control points used in the Day 3 Part 2: Analysis of River Characteristics structure from motion (SfM) activity. Day 3 Part 1 - This ...

Post-processing GPS/GNSS Base Station Position part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
This assignment uses static GNSS methods to establish a base station used to establish a control point for a kinematic survey (establishing ground control points used in Structure from Motion for Analysis of River ...

Pictorial Geologic History Book part of Teacher Preparation:Resource Collections:Activities
In this project the student creates a 10-part written & pictorial geologic history book of a region.

Measuring Ground Motion with GPS: How GPS Works part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Share-a-thon:Tuesday
This activity helps students better understand how GPS measures ground motion. Students work with models of GPS stations and printouts of typical GPS velocity vectors found near different tectonic boundaries. ...

Curricular Pathways for Geohazard Learning part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Share-a-thon Session
The EarthScope ANGLE Curricular Pathways offer four different ways to approach learning related to geohazard topic: Instrumentation, Plate Tectonics, Earthquake Impacts, and Community Resilience. The specific ...

Courses (3)

Geoscience Field Issues Using High-Resolution Topography to Understand Earth Surface Processes part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Courses
The objective of the course is to train students in manual and remote sensing methods of topographic data collection, including 1) GPS/GNSS surveys, 2) structure from motion (SfM), and 3) ground-based (terrestrial ...

Global Issues in the Sciences--Living with our Earth: Earth science case studies from the Pacific NW and Himalaya part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Courses
Seminar style course that explores basic geologic systems through the lens of better understanding natural and manmade catastrophes in the Pacific Northwest and the Himalaya and how we, personally and as societies, ...

Central Washington University - Pacific Northwest Geology part of Teacher Preparation:Resource Collections:Courses
The course has a duel role of providing future secondary earth science teaching majors with more detailed geologic content knowledge of the Pacific NW (where most of them end up teaching) and providing them ...

Essay (1)

From the hyper-local to global: UNAVCO's vision for sustainability in earth education part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Earth Education for Sustainable Societies:Essays
Beth Bartel, Beth Pratt-Situala, Donna Charlevoix, and Shelley Olds, UNAVCO UNAVCO, a non-profit university consortium, operates the NSF's Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE). Beth ...

Conference Presentations (17)

The Math Your Earth Science Majors Need: Co-curricular Math and Statistics modules for Earth science majors courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
Quantitative skills are critical in Earth science and students need sustained and distributed practice to strengthen their skills. Applying quantitative approaches to Earth science questions enhances students' ...

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Education and Workforce Development Support by EarthScope Consortium and NSF Geophysics Facilities part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
The EarthScope Consortium operates the NSF SAGE (seismology) and NSF GAGE (geodesy) facilities and is dedicated to supporting transformative global geophysical research and education. EarthScope's Engagement ...

Used a Teach the Earth Teaching Activity? Share your experiences through the new Community Contribution Tool part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
Over the last 20 years the Earth education community has collectively and openly shared over 5000 teaching activities through SERC-hosted websites, as highlighted in the NAGT-managed Teach the Earth portal. These ...

Equipment Loans to Support Teaching Geophysics in the Field in Undergraduate Courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday Poster Session
Interested to teach with geophysics instrumentation but need better access to equipment and supporting resources?A variety of geophysics field instruments available for loan for undergraduate teaching purposes ...

Supporting Educators of Geosciences and Geophysics with EarthScope Consortium Resources part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
IRIS Consortium and UNAVCO Inc. merged to form EarthScope Consortium on January 1, 2023. EarthScope Consortium operates the SAGE (seismology) and GAGE (geodesy) facilities funded by the National Science ...

Quantitative skills in courses for geoscience majors part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday Poster Session
Application of quantitative skills in geoscience courses is a source of frustration for many faculty and a significant barrier to students. One response is to remove quantitative content from geoscience courses. ...

Finding the Silver Lining: Positive outcomes from the pivot to virtual for instructor professional development and teaching resources in classroom and field geoscience part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday Oral Session B
GETSI (GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues) is an NSF-funded program that develops and disseminates data-rich and societally relevant curriculum for undergraduate field and classroom teaching ...

Making geodesy accessible and relevant: Educator and student resources for enhancing learning about geosciences and geodesy part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Geodesy is the study of Earth's shape, gravity field, and rotation. Geodetic applications and data are used to understand many societal issues such as land surface change, drought monitoring, climate change, ...

Context matters: Designing data-rich geodesy teaching materials that get used part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
GETSI (Geodesy Tools for Societal Issues) project is developing modules that allow undergraduate students to engage in geodetic data analysis relevant to societally important topics of natural hazards, water ...

High Precision Positioning in Field Courses: Applying GNSS to geologic questions part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
GPS/GNSS enabled consumer grade positioning devices are now super accessible to both geologic field research and education. These devices geotag images, digital field book entries or measurements but the positions ...

Helping your students find their career path and options in geosciences part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday
While students often choose to study and major in geosciences because of their love of the discipline, they may not be aware of what career options are available following graduation. Perhaps even more critically, ...

Data-rich societally-situated undergraduate teaching resources and instructor professional development for geoscience classrooms and field courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
The NSF-funded GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues (GETSI) project is developing teaching resources and instructor professional development opportunities that emphasize a broad range of geodetic methods and data ...

Geodesy for everyone: Educational resources to incorporate geodetic data and concepts into instruction and activities part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday
Geodesy is the study of Earth's shape, gravity field, and rotation. Geodetic applications and data are used to understand many societal issues such as land surface change, drought monitoring, climate change, ...

The Role of an NSF Facility in supporting Education: Geodesy for Everyone through UNAVCO's Education & Community Engagement Program part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
UNAVCO manages the NSF geodetic facility (GAGE: Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope) which includes a focused program devoted to education, outreach, communications and geo-workforce development. The ...

Data-rich societally-relevant undergraduate teaching resources for geoscience classrooms and field courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Poster Sessions:Thursday
UNAVCO (NSF's geodetic facility) and partners are developing and disseminating undergraduate teaching resources that feature geodesy data analysis and methods in order to address gaps in available ...

Integrating geodesy technology into undergraduate field education courses part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Fieldwork is an integral part of the geosciences and there is a longstanding tradition of teaching field methods as part of the undergraduate earth sciences curriculum. As new technology changes the ways in which ...

Tuesday part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Share-a-thon:Tuesday
Skip to Main ContentSkip to Navigation Your Account Earth Educators' RendezvousPhiladelphia, PA, July 15-19, 2024 View the Program | ...

Other Contributions (9)

Cascading Land Surface Hazards as a Vehicle to Engaging 2YC Students: Discussion of needs and opportunities part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Round Table Discussions
Although land surface hazards such as landslides and floods are typical fare in introductory courses, the idea of the hazard "cascade" with one event priming the pump for another is often missed. ...

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Wednesday Forum part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program
Connecting coursework to real-world issues that are meaningful to students is an excellent way to increase student engagement in Earth science courses. Place-based learning, focusing on students' local ...

Exploring Geohazard Data Portals and Related Teaching Activities part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Afternoon Mini-Workshops
This workshop will give participants the chance to explore a range of simple data portals related to plate tectonics and geohazards, as well as associated teaching activities. Portals will include UNAVCO GPS/GNSS ...

Theme Group 1: Earth Science for Secondary Teachers - Connection to Place part of Teacher Preparation:Workshops and Activities:Workshop 2007
Group Members Beth Pratt-Sitaula, Pacific Northwest Geology Gary Solar, Geology of New York State Amy Ellwein, Geobotany Joel Johnson, Earth System Science for Teachers Approach to Teaching the Course What ...

Improving the Sustainability of Data-rich Activities through the Community Contribution Tool part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Morning Workshops:Improving the Sustainability of Data-rich Activities through the Community Contribution Tool
Some curriculum materials have datasets and related resources that can become out-of-date or unavailable. To address this issue, this workshop will introduce the Community Contribution Tool (CCT), which facilitates ...

Share-a-thon part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Share-a-thon
This event will begin with a round-robin 1-2 minute "lightning" round to preview each activity, with the remaining time for attendees to circulate among presenters to interact in a small group format. ...

Tuesday part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Teaching Demos:Tuesday
Skip to Main ContentSkip to Navigation Login Earth Educators' RendezvousPasadena, CA, July 10-14, 2023 View the Program | Search the Program ...

Getting the Most Out of your TA Experience part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Morning Workshops:Getting the Most Out of your TA Experience
In this workshop, we will help graduate students build their skills as teaching assistants (TAs) and articulate those skills in light of future careers. Participants will develop skills and confidence for ...

Teaching for a Changing World: Water resources and melting ice part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2020:Program:Morning Workshops:Teaching for a Changing World: Water resources and melting ice
Integrating cutting edge data and quantitative skills into introductory courses can be challenging. The GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues (GETSI) project has developed a suite of undergraduate teaching modules to ...