part I

1.   Illustrate the problem with an awful example (e.g., the mass murder at Columbine High School).

2.    Give the problem a name ("school shootings").

3.    Use statistics to suggest the problem's size and importance.

part II-

1. What is an epidemic? Jot down the various meanings that this word can have.

2. How did the news media and other claimsmakers frame the columbine massacre as just one instance of a much wider school shootings epidemic?

3. How does the epidemic frame statistically mispresent the school shootings problem?

4. Best reports that " only about 1 percent of children killed by violence are hurt in school, despite the large amount of time they spend there. What do you think accounts for the other 99 percent of children killed by violence? Do some exploratory researh to determine whether your hunches are correct.

5. Whydo you think other types of violent youth homicide receive so little attentation from claimsmakers compared to school shootings?