Twenty Jobs or Six Hundred: Testing a Headline With Real Data
Does a job's exposure to AI predict whether it will grow in West Virginia? Your student tests the question on 20 familiar jobs, then on all 601, and learns why the answer changed.
Price:
$49.00
Headlines say AI will shrink the jobs most exposed to it. Your student tests that claim with official data. Using 20 familiar West Virginia jobs, the answer looks like a strong yes. Using all 601 occupations with data, it nearly disappears. Working out why teaches sampling, weighting and the difference between correlation and causation.
What’s inside
- Five sessions for each path. High school sessions run 45–60 minutes; grades 7–8 sessions run 40–45 minutes.
- Data: BLS wages for May 2025, West Virginia 2024–34 projections from Projections Central, and the BLS AI-exposure ratings released in August 2026.
- Two spreadsheets: the 20-job sample and all 601 occupations. Any spreadsheet program works.
- Scatter plots, a line of fit and residuals, correlation, job-weighted averages and random samples, with an answer key.
- High school writing task: a one-page data brief for a family audience, with an honest headline and a 20-point rubric.
- A full grades 7–8 path: plot by hand, fit a line by eye, test the sample with random cards, and make a poster.
- A quick check and a portfolio record.
Grades and standards
Grades 9–12, with a full grades 7–8 path. West Virginia standards: M.A1HS.35, M.A1HS.36, M.A1HS.37, M.QR.23, M.QR.26, M.7.17, M.7.18, M.8.28, M.8.29, M.8.30.
Instant PDF download, $49. Included with a Pharos Terminal subscription.