During the previous meeting, we discussed the problem you want to solve. Also discussed with the group and the trainer who is to blame for the problem and who is affected by it.

Then you suggested options on how to influence these two groups of people and, accordingly, solve the problem. You did it based on the knowledge you already had. But there are still many unknowns around you, and that's where new ideas can be born.

Using Google is very easy.


If you want to see more specific results, add descriptive words.
For example, if you need beautiful pictures, you write "beautiful pictures." If you have more specific preferences, you can add descriptive words like "beautiful pictures flowers."

If you're doing research and need to find an article about the reliability of a piece of information, it's a good idea to consider different points of view and opinions.

For example, you want to see if veganism is healthy for humans or not. You will first write your question: "Is veganism healthy for people?" and you will get various articles. But here, you can also write "veganism is healthy" and read the articles confirming it. And then you can read articles opposing it, writing, "veganism is dangerous."

This is a very useful approach to understanding and seeing the whole picture and different opinions to form a more unbiased and objective opinion.

Just open Google.com and type what you are searching for.

Also, when gathering information about an organization or a person, it is useful to gather not only good but also conflicting information and opinions.

For example, when searching, you can write "scandal," "fraud," or other similar words next to the name of a person or organization.

Our student, Lana, makes vases from old clothes. She does this with the help of cement.

But Lana wants to replace cement with a more environmentally sustainable material.
To find a solution, Lana must do some research.

She opens Google and types her question.

It's better to write in English.

In the case of Lana, there are more materials in English, so we write the question that way.

We can type in Google, for example: sustainable alternatives to cement (sustainable alternatives to cement).

If you don't find something you like in the list, you can add other keywords.

You can use any keyword related to the topic to search.

You see what results Google brings you.

If you want the latest materials, just click "Tools" and select the time period.

For example, past year or another period.

In addition to text materials, you can also look at videos, photos, news about the topic, books, etc.

The same is possible with your phone.

Very often we find information that is in a language we do not know well enough to understand.

For that, always keep Google translate open at the same time.

Link ԱՅՍՏԵՂ։

If you use the Google Chrome browser you can install the Google extension to translate everything more easily.

Open this this link and click Install

Then we open Google Chrome and click on the puzzle symbol in the upper right corner.

And you pin it above so that it is always at hand.

Now you have to select the language in which you want to see the translated texts.

Click on the blue icon and select Extension Options:

You select the language you want (Armenian, Russian, etc.).

That's it, now you can open any material, for example, in English and translate the whole page or a separate paragraph/sentence/word.

To translate the entire text, just click on the blue icon above.

You can do the same with a phone.

On the page you are reading, find 3 such points and click on them. And then Translate.

And in the lower part, choose the language in which you want to see the text. For example: Armenian.

And to translate a separate paragraph/sentence/word, you select it.

Now let's see with an example how to find information on Facebook.

Let's again understand with an example.

Eric decided to green the abandoned areas of Yerevan. We had to find seedlings.

He opened FaceBook and typed "seedlings"։ He found Taratesak Tnkiner page, messaged them and found exactly what he needed։
Despite pages, you can also search on groups.

Or type seedlings Yerevan, seedlings for fruit trees, etc.

On the left side, you can select what you want to see: a post on that topic, a group, a page, etc.

If you have a question/problem related to the group/page and you can't find the answer, you can look in the Users section to see who the admin is. And message them.

Also, in order not to look at all the posts for a long time, you can use the search symbol

Let's look at another example from our students' projects.

Our student Alla from Dilijan wanted to create a composter
that would process food waste and obtain fertilizer.

Alla had never composted on her own, so she needed to learn how to do it first.

She opened YouTube and started looking for videos that teach about composting.

Here you can also filter and find newer, short, and long videos.

If you need to buy a product, you can look at these platforms and compare prices.

There are cases when it is necessary to contact a state institution.
It can be the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Environment, the UN office in Armenia, the Agrarian University, etc.

For example, three of our students were conducting research on fabrics in Armenia. Specifically about linen, cotton and hemp.

At some point they needed to find information about linen producers in Armenia, to understand whether we have such factories or not. And for that you have to call the Ministry of Economy.

Let's try to find the contacts of the ministry from the website.

Enter the name of the ministry in Google and open the official website.

On the website, you will find a section called Contact/ Contact us or similar. And look at phone number/email address etc.

If it doesn't work out like this, you can use directories.

Among the most popular directories are Spyur and Yell.

Enter the name of the organization you are looking for information about in the search field, and the website will give you all available contact information.

You can do the same on FaceBook.

Before starting the exercises, download the work file.

You can print it and fill it while reading the reading material.

And if there is no option to print, just write on a piece of paper what is written in the work file.

Who is indirectly or directly affected by this problem?

Write down what you found out about this.

Who is responsible for creating this problem (certain people, institutions, now, in the past, etc.)

Your answer can be in the following format.

Sevan is blooming. The government that made wrong decisions for 100 years is responsible.
Here we found an excellent interview of two young Armenian scientists that describes the background of the problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQrucy3g14&t=448s

Who do you think should solve this problem (government, business, people, institutions, etc.)?

Now you should learn new things about your problem, find information that you didn't know before.

Find information on this question.

Now that you have researched your problem a bit, you can briefly describe it in no more than 5 points.

For example

Problem: Sevan is blooming

• it affects everyone in Armenia
• it is the fault of many governments over many years
• we must act now, or it will be worse
• each must operate at his own level

Now you should write as many How Can We Questions for those groups as it will help you find a solution for your project.

Question structure: "How can we [act] for [beneficiary] who has [need] given that they..."

In the previous task, we distinguished 3 types of people:

• people affected by the problem
• the people responsible for creating the problem
• people who need to solve this problem

Today's last exercise.
Now we will look for your solution with the help of a mind map.

Let only that question/questions and draw your own mind map for them.

During the previous task, you wrote many questions, the answers to which are the solutions to your problem. Now choose one or several of them.

Draw branches from the center and write the ideas related to the topic for each branch. Each branch symbolizes one thought or idea related to the topic. More ideas can be branched from each branch. There is no limit to the number of branches.

You can create mind maps with pen and paper, or you can use an online mind mapping tool - miro, microsoft word, etc.

What do we start with?

On the center of the paper write down the question you chose.

Use different colors if possible. They act as mental stimuli and can help you generate new ideas.

If ideas don't come, don't worry.
They will come.

And now that you have hundreds of solutions, we'll pick one.)

We will do that at our next meeting.)