Module 8 Activity: Table Question Brief

Activity ID: AIT-M08-A01 Estimated active time: 35-50 minutes

Purpose

Create a safe table-analysis prompt and review plan without overclaiming what the AI can know.

Use safe, fictional or public material throughout. Nothing in this activity requires a real name, account, record or figure.

Activity Steps

Part 1: Choose or describe a safe simple table.

Describe a table you could actually check by hand. Four or five rows is enough, and makes verification possible.

Part 2: Define each column and the main question.

One line per column saying what it means. Include at least one column whose meaning someone else might read differently.

Part 3: State whether the AI tool has data, sample rows, or only a description.

Say it explicitly in the prompt, and add the instruction to say so rather than estimate if the data is not there.

Part 4: Ask for possible patterns, formulas, or chart explanations.

Ask for these as possibilities with a checking plan attached, not as findings.

Part 5: Write how you will manually check the output.

Name what you will calculate yourself. Anything you do not check stays labelled as a suggestion.

What good looks like

A strong response makes the boundary visible: which figures were calculated, which were suggested, and how many rows they rest on.