Ninth grade SPIRE students worked to answer the question “How do we survive with limited resources?”. The students designed biospheres that are meant to sustain human life in the event of a resource crisis. The student teams worked to develop plans for different biomes, taking into account ecological challenges such as soil and water quality, energy availability, and the calculated carrying capacity of different animals. The biospheres were pitched to a Shark Tank panel of engineers and environmental scientists who awarded grants to teams based on feasibility and scientific principal of the overall design. ​