Student guide

Why Here? The Prosperity Puzzle. Created by Yoav Duman. An open atlas becomes a layered landscape of connected cities, rivers and bridges. — Created by Yoav Duman / יואב דומן

Start with an explanation. Find the country that makes it awkward. Decide what the evidence can actually support.

You investigate why prosperity differs across countries. You will predict a pattern, compare real records, test your explanation against research and propose what you would need to learn next.

Choose how to play

For Class always uses Full. Complete all five records and their required writing, then confirm the final explanation. Class reports, printing and PDF unlock only when the required work is current. Editable backups remain available before completion.

For Fun: choose Core (prediction, country lab, history, final explanation) or Full (Core plus the health challenge). Writing is optional in both; evidence and interpretation checks still apply when confirming a record. Exploration reports are personal records, not completed class assignments.

Allow 50–65 minutes for the Full route and written work. You can pause and continue later. No economics background or student account is required.

WHY HERE? / KNOW THE NEXT MOVE

Know the next move

Predict a country pattern. Choose one factor to compare with GDP per person. Predict higher output, lower output or no clear pattern, and explain why. Your first recorded prediction is preserved.
Use the country lab. Select measures in “Compare GDP per person with…”. Choose two countries and a country that challenges your idea. To retain an omission check, choose “Leave out one country”, inspect both r values, select “Keep this check”, then select “Keep all twelve”.
Examine history. Read the forecast carefully, then open the historical record. Build a proposed pathway, choose one arrow and a source, and explain what that source supports, complicates or leaves unresolved in the response box below it.
Examine health in Full. Make an expectation, read the campaign records, choose a comparison and inference, and explain a named study’s outcome and finding. Identify another factor or a condition the study’s comparison needs to address.
Build your explanation. Work through Explain, Test, and Apply & revise. Use a scoped claim, a possible process, a credible rival, a proposed test, reconsideration evidence and a conditional action. You can defend uncertainty if you explain it.

Use records in your argument

In Steps 1 and 2 of the final explanation, use at least two evidence groups and explain their relevance. Select the groups you used in Step 2. Country comparison, historical reversal and malaria research are the groups; the two malaria papers count as one. Core uses the country and historical groups.

Short and specific is useful

Follow the displayed writing minimums in For Class. Notes or bullets are welcome. More words do not earn a better judgment by themselves. The instructor reads the reasoning; the software does not grade it. If a word is unfamiliar, open Terms. Use the exact-value table when that is easier than the chart.

WHY HERE? / KEEP YOUR WORK. SUBMIT THE RIGHT FILE.

Keep your work. Submit the right file.

Pause or change devices

Use Save / resume for a JSON progress backup or a playable HTML copy with progress. Open a saved investigation to restore a JSON backup, review the preview, and confirm replacement only when you want to use it. A readable TXT or PDF report does not reopen editable progress.

Check the save status before closing. A browser save stays in that browser and website. The two websites do not automatically share your progress. Keep a JSON backup before you move.

Opening a saved investigation

Choose Save / resume, then Open a saved investigation.
Select your JSON backup and inspect the preview.
Keep a backup of current work if you need both investigations. Confirm replacement to use the selected one, or Cancel to keep the current investigation.

Finish a class assignment

In For Class, complete all five Full records and the final report action. Then download the TXT report or choose Print / save report as PDF. Submit the readable file through your course website as instructed. Downloading does not submit work.

If you change a completed answer, review and confirm that record and the final explanation again. Earlier writing is kept. Switching from For Fun to For Class preserves your choices and shows the class work still needed; it cannot turn optional writing into completed class work.

What matters in the explanation

Name what you chose, why you chose it and which observations support it.
Explain a process and a serious rival. A label alone is not an explanation.
Keep the claim within the source’s time, population and measured outcome.
Say what could make you reconsider. Keeping your first view can be as defensible as changing it.

For Class response fields require typing. Pasting and dropping text into answers are off; legitimate progress restoration and name/course fields remain available.

Game: Why_Here.html
Guide and research links: https://possiblestates.com/simulations/why-here