Investigatory projects?

Question

...any ideas on a good investigatory project on biology good for first year high schoolers?

Answer 1

You can measure raw waste runoff in local streams by using caffeine as a proxy.  Caffeine is highly stable.  They used to use e. coli, but then you'd have to estimate if the little critters were growing or not in their environment.  You can measure acidity, lead and some other things too.  One such project found radioactivity.