Columbine High School Massacre
10th Anniversary (4.20.99)

On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School near Denver, a massacre occurred. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others. After this bloodbath was over, they both committed suicide.

It ranks among the deadliest school shootings in United States history: the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, and the 1966 University of Texas massacre. It ranks first as the worst massacre for an American high school.


The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society.

The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social outcasts, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage Internet use, and violent video games.

(See how survivors of the incident are doing today in this timely report from MSNBC.)

SIRS Leading Issues (video overview)—found inside SIRS Researcher—provides a variety of topics/issues that can leverage interest in the Columbine massacre into learning about how to prevent many of the abuses that caused it. (Issues Handout)

Assign student to take a pro or con position on one of the related Leading Issues that follow: Violence in Mass Media; School Violence; Substance Abuse; and Gun Control.

The unique five-step process integrated into each of these SIRS Leading Issues ensures that students will use critical thinking and original thought in their presentations and reports. This process integrates the essential questions that students need to address for each of these issues.

Click More Issues link in the Pro vs. Con section, then the issue assigned.

SIRS provides a variety of models for students to report their reasoned conclusions on the issue. Each of these four unique models is designed to correlate to the five-step process. Written reports of at least 150 words are the traditional way for students to report.

The disadvantage of written reports is that students' ideas aren't shared with anyone but the teacher, they're easier to plagiarize, and they don't get a full opportunity to develop 21st-century skills. If you want to integrate 21st-century skills, we recommend that you assign and use the mini-debate and PowerPoint presentation models. Pathfinder to Leading Issues models listed below. Open the links in Step 5 of My Analysis, including:

• Writing a Formal Research Paper
• Writing a Mini-Research Paper (student and teacher management versions)
• Creating a PowerPoint Presentation
• Creating a Mini-Debate (student and teacher management versions)

Sign up for a free, 30-day trial to SIRS Researcher to tap into all of these resources today.