Inequality in the US - Data Detectives

This data-packed article from the NYT is great for illustrating inequality (and also practising interpreting graphs).

There is a teacher version here, and although I'm not totally sold on the lesson plan provided, it contains a bunch graphs which make a really nice matching activity. Since I don't own the images, I've had to share QR codes instead of actual images, but they are labelled A-U on the teacher version so it's really easy to copy and paste them into a document if you don't want students to use devices.

This activity doesn't involve any specific economic knowledge, so can be used any time in the course. Obviously it would work for teaching inequality, but if you do a specific unit on 'being an economist' or data or quantitative skills, it would be an option there, too.

The activity also includes some statements which do not reflect the data in the graphs, so it’s a good opportunity to discuss the difference between ‘According to the graphs, this statement is incorrect’ and ‘We can’t tell this from the graph’. (Graph O is a little different, they have to draw it themselves and see if they get it correct!)

You can get it free for a limited time below, so save it somewhere safe!

US Inequality Data Detectives 2.0.pdf

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