National Archives Continues its Role in Civics Education.

Memory of Education Corner in “Memory of the Nation Wing”: Culture, History, and Modern Technology Hand in Hand for Civics Education

History and culture interweaved with modern technology in the "Memory of Education" corner, in NA wing within the 2016 Sheikh Zayed Heritage festival, to emphasize values of belonging, loyalty and national identity among young visitors.  Children had fun using modern technology to familiarize themselves with history, under the supervision of a group of specialists.

In this corner, NA reveals to the public a modern method to reach out to children to teach them about history.  In a non-typical manner, there were several tables with computers on them spread out in the corner.  On the tables, there were also dismantled "robotic" pieces.  A child is to put the pieces together to create a mock-up horse and put it in the miniature-racing field located on another table.  Children would then take their horses to races with their virtual horses.  All participants received NA medals.

This modern technique attracted many children to the "Education Corner", in addition to viewing educational films on horses on a wide screen.  The film was created especially for young viewers.  The content is documentaries showing how important this cultural sport is to the UAE leadership.  During the film, a curator explains to children how the Founding Leader the late Sheikh Zayed had taken the sport into a new unprecedented level.  The film also provides information about Dubai's Global Equestrian Cup that was established in 1996 by H. H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai.  The documentary also sheds light on annual equestrian festivals by H. H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and his continued efforts to maintain what H. H. Sheikh Zayed had started, in order to preserve this cultural sport.

Information was given to children about the country's efforts to improve women's equestrian sports.  The program also provided information to young visitors on UAE stables, the number of horses, and the rare breeds of Arabian horses.

The corner provided young visitors with different educational material every week, to keep them interested and to attract as many children as possible.  One different weekly theme was on camels in the UAE, camel racing tracks, and the history of camel racing culture.

"Memory of Education" corner objective is to link children to the nation's history and culture, and educate them on sustaining the local environment.