Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship Phenomena (Amplify)

Help students apply their understanding of climate science to an authentic engineering challenge with this engaging Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship phenomena resource.

This six-poster collection uses visually rich science and engineering phenomena to encourage students to analyze evidence, evaluate possible solutions, consider design constraints, and develop explanations about how engineering can be used to address problems related to Earth’s changing climate.

Students move from understanding climate patterns and Earth system interactions to applying that knowledge in a problem-solving context where evidence, trade-offs, and design decisions matter.

What’s Included

This resource includes six individual full-color portrait phenomena posters.

Each poster includes:

A high-interest science or engineering phenomenon question

A detailed visual, model, graph, or engineering scenario

“What do you notice?” observation prompts

“What do you wonder?” discussion questions

Key science and engineering vocabulary

A “Try This Thinking” activity or challenge

A CER Starter for Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning practice

A concise science statement reinforcing the main concept

Apply Climate Science to Engineering

Students use their understanding of climate patterns, Earth systems, energy, and environmental change to investigate real-world engineering problems.

The phenomena encourage students to consider how scientific evidence can guide decisions about possible solutions.

Students begin seeing climate science not only as something to understand, but as knowledge that can be applied to designing and evaluating solutions.

Analyze Evidence Before Designing Solutions

Strong engineering decisions are based on evidence.

Students can consider questions such as:

What problem needs to be solved?

What evidence shows that the problem exists?

Which Earth systems are involved?

What scientific principles should guide the solution?

What criteria should a successful design meet?

What constraints might limit the solution?

How could the design be improved?

These questions help students connect scientific investigation with the engineering design process.

Evaluate Possible Engineering Solutions

Students are encouraged to compare multiple approaches rather than assuming there is one perfect solution.

They can examine how well different designs meet criteria, consider possible trade-offs, and use scientific evidence to justify which solution may be most effective.

This provides meaningful opportunities for students to practice evidence-based decision-making.

Consider Criteria, Constraints, and Trade-Offs

Engineering solutions must work within real-world limitations.

The posters help students consider factors such as available materials, cost, environmental impact, effectiveness, feasibility, and other design constraints.

Students can discuss how improving one part of a solution may affect another and why engineers often have to make trade-offs.

Connect Engineering to Earth Systems

Climate-related engineering challenges often involve interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, land, living organisms, and human systems.

Students can investigate how a proposed solution may affect multiple parts of the larger Earth system.

This helps students develop a systems perspective while considering both intended and unintended effects.

Strengthen Data and Evidence Analysis

Climate science and engineering both rely heavily on evidence.

Students can interpret visual information, compare models, examine patterns, and use data to support recommendations.

These activities strengthen science reasoning while helping students understand that engineering decisions should be justified with more than personal preference.

Support CER Practice

Each poster includes a student-friendly CER Starter.

Students practice making a Claim about a possible solution, identifying Evidence from the phenomenon, model, or data, and using Reasoning to explain why that evidence supports their recommendation.

CER becomes especially meaningful in an engineering context because students are using evidence to justify actual design choices.

Build Science and Engineering Vocabulary

Important vocabulary is embedded directly within the phenomena and design challenges.

Students encounter concepts related to climate, Earth systems, evidence, engineering, criteria, constraints, trade-offs, design, model, solution, testing, and optimization while actively applying those terms.

Connect Science and Engineering Practices

This resource provides opportunities for students to:

Observe phenomena

Ask questions

Analyze data

Develop and use models

Identify problems

Define criteria and constraints

Compare possible solutions

Construct explanations

Use evidence to justify decisions

Revise designs

Evaluate trade-offs

Communicate recommendations

These practices help students experience science and engineering as connected ways of understanding and solving problems.

Great for Classroom Use

Use these posters for:

Engineering internship instruction

Phenomenon launches

Science focus walls

Whole-group discussions

Small-group engineering teams

Notice and Wonder routines

Science notebook responses

Vocabulary development

CER practice

Climate data analysis

Engineering design challenges

Evidence-based discussions

Solution comparisons

Review and reinforcement

Classroom displays

Revisit the Phenomena Throughout the Internship

Introduce each phenomenon before students have developed a complete solution.

As students gather evidence and learn more about climate systems and engineering design, return to the same posters and ask them to reconsider their ideas.

Students can refine their claims, evaluate additional evidence, revise designs, and strengthen their reasoning as their understanding develops.

Turn Climate Science Into Problem Solving

Engineering internships provide students with an opportunity to apply science to meaningful problems.

These posters help students connect climate evidence with the engineering design process by asking them to observe, analyze, design, evaluate, and justify possible solutions.

By combining engaging phenomena with structured questioning, systems thinking, data analysis, vocabulary development, and CER practice, this resource provides strong support throughout an Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship.

Important Disclaimer

This resource is independently created and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or produced by Amplify Education. The use of “Amplify” in the product title is intended only to help educators identify the curriculum topic with which this supplemental resource may be used. Amplify Education owns its respective trademarks and curriculum materials.