If you're teaching argumentation or expository composition, this is a great assignment that will yield complex thinking and writing. I ask my students, in pairs, to investigate a problem in the school or community; they then research it (causes, effects, patterns, etc.) and hypothesize a solution. The documents here follow a process, including producing a research document prior to composing, and features rubrics, pre-writing and editing tasks, etc. A great project for your high school or college class!