The Three Pomegranate Network - Armenia

The 2001 theme of 3PN is the borderless marketplace on the web: e-commerce sites will be studied and compared in an effort to help young Armenians launch their own commercial sites. Specifically, first, students and teachers will conduct research exercises - with a focus on search techniques - to figure out what is available on the web in terms of e-commerce. Students in each school will collaborate and post their findings over the course of several sessions. Second, students from different regions of Armenia will build e-commerce sites that feature products from different regions of Armenia on the basis of their work to find and document hand-made and other locally produced items in their regions. They collaborate closely with diaspora students, who are in charge of market reseach and promotion worldwide. The purpose of these activities is to foster cultural awareness and link Armenian students and teachers with their global peers. They are also designed to teach skills such as online collaboration, language proficiency, critical thinking, web design, and research methods.

Children, Youth, Technology.

Three Pomegranates is the Armenian programme of the Education for Development Institute (e4d), an organisation that uses education to facilatate critical thinking and creative learning processes, to cultivate global collaboration and awareness of cultural identity, and to provide access to key resources and training.

The 3PN site also includes links to other e4d programmes:

• Creative Fingers focuses on arts and crafts for children of all ages. Most of the projects are designed to be completed by kids themselves (but may necessitate some parental guidance). This portion of the site is in Armenian.
• An electronic bilingual teacher forum focused on issues pertaining to the education of young Armenians.
• Storyweb, which contains illustrated stories in Armenian for different age groups, appear in Eastern and Western Armenian. They are divided into three series by age category: the "Hoond" series for children up to 6 years old, the "Dzil" series for 6- to 9-year-olds, and the "Hasg" series for those above 9.
• The resource centre, a collection of information, tools, and guidelines for educators, parents and researchers. It includes the first installments of a comprehensive Database of Armenian Schools Worldwide and information about Internet Videoconferencing in the 3PN.
• The "Miniatures" Gallery, which showcases children's artwork.

The first 3PN involved 10 schools in five countries. In 1999, there were 30 participating schools in eight countries. 3PN 2000 reached 15 countries and included 70 schools, 35 of them in Armenia.