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Some people call it a treaveling museum. Others refer to it as a living or open-air museum. Built in Brazil to celebrate the quincentennial of Columbus' first voyage to the New World ,the Nina, a Columbus-era replica ship , provides vistors with an accurate vision of the size and sailing implements of Columbus' favorite shop from over 500 years ago .

I joined the crew of the Nina in Gulf Shores,Alabama , in February 2013. As part of a research project sponsored by my university, my goal was to document my days aboard the shio in a blog.

I quickly realized that I gained the most valuable insights when I observed or gave tours to school-age children. The field-trip tour of the Nina is hands-on learning at its best. In this setting , student could touch the line , pass around a ballast stone, and move the extremely large tiller that steered the shops in Columbus' day. They soon came to underdtand the labor involved in sailing the ship back in his time. I was pleased to see the students become active participants in their learning process.

The Nina is not the only traveling museum that provides such field trips. A visit to Jamestown Settlement , for example , allows visitors to board three re-creations of the ships that brought thefirst settlers from England to Virginia in the early 1600s . Historical interpreters , dressed in period garb, give tours to the Susan Constant , Godspeed , and Discovery. There interpreters often portray a character that would have lived and worked during that period . Students touring there ships are encouraged to interact with the interpreters in order to better understand the daily life in the past .

My experience on the Nina helps substantiate my long-held belief that students stay interested, ask better questions , and engage in higher-order thinking tasks when they are actively engaged in the learning process. The students who boarded the Nina came as passive learners . They left as bold explorers. 

@ What line of business is the author engaged in ?

A. Shipping    

B. Education

C. Ecological tourism

D. Museum administration

@ Which of the following is true about the Nina introduced in the passage?

A. She is a replicaof a ship that Columbus built in Brazil

B. She is always crowede with foreign tourists during holidays

C. She is the boat Columbus sailed in his voyage to the New World

D. She displays a replica of the navigational equipment used in Columbus' time

@ What is the third paragraph mainly about ?

A. Guidelines for visitors on the ships 

B. Life of the first settlers in Jamestown Settlement

C. Duties of the interpreters in the British museums

D. Introduction to some open-air museums similar to the Nina

@ What does the author mean by the last two sentences of the passage?

A. The students are interested in vecoming tour guides 

B. The experience has changed the students' learning attitude 

C. The students become brave  and are ready to sail the seas on their own 

D. The museums are successful in teaching the students survival skills at sea

ANSWER   :  B/D/D/B