Statistics and Bioscience: Association in Research

Statistics has been found to be a major player in playing the role of understanding various phenomena in almost every branch of science. This paper describes (i) the meaning, definition & role of statistics and of bioscience, (ii) the idea of research in general & of bioscience research specifically and (iii) the association of statistics with research in general and with bioscience research specifically.

Introduction
Statistics is an old discipline, as old as the human activity. Its utility has been increasing as the ages goes by. In the olden days it was used in the administrative departments of the states and the scope was limited. Earlier, it was used by governments to keep record of birth and death population etc. for administrative purpose [1]. John Graunt was the first man to make a systematic study of birth and death statistics and calculation of expectation of life at different age in the 17 th century which led to the idea of Life Insurance. However, the history of the beginning of the development of the theory of statistics was lost in the dust of antiquity [2][3][4][5][6].
Statistics has been found to be a major player in playing the role of understanding various phenomena in almost every branch of science. At the current stage of human civilization, statistics has become an unavoidable and essential analytical tool for scientific research [7].
Research has been found to be (i) an essential & unavoidable component of academic activity, (ii) the best intellectual helper in solving any type of the problem and (iii) the vital player in playing the role of searching for new information/knowledge [7]. This, together with the fact mentioned above, establishes the importance of research in general and specially in bioscience. Moreover, Statistics is also essential and unavoidable tool for scientific investigation and research [7]. Accordingly, there is necessity of study on the association of statistics in bioscience research. In pursuance of this necessity, attempt has here been made on searching for the association of statistics with research in general and specifically with bioscience research. In this paper, discussion has been made on the meaning, definition & role of statistics and of bioscience, the idea of research in general & of bioscience research specifically and (iii) the association of statistics with research in general and with bioscience research specifically.

Meaning of statistics
The word "Statistics" seems to have been derived from the Latin word "status" or Italian word "statista" or the German word "Statistik" each of which means a political state [8][9][10][11]. Fields like agriculture, economy, sociology, business management etc. are now using Statistical Methods for different purpose. The first part of the word "statistic" comes from the German word "staat" for state. The word was used as a term to describe the practice of the state collecting information on births and deaths more than 300 years ago [9,[12][13][14]. At the current stage, two words namely "Statistics" and "Statistic" are used in the theory of statistics. The word "Statistics" is used to mean data / information on events, phenomena, experiments etc. On the other hand, the word "Statistic" is used to mean the method of operation on data. The word "Statistic" is used to mean the function of data applied in determination problem (called estimation in the literature of statistics) and in testing problem (called hypothesis testing in the literature of statistics).

a.
According to Webster, statistics are the classified facts representing the conditions of the people in a state, especially those facts which can be stated in numbers or any tabular or classified arrangement.

b.
According to Yule and Kendall, statistics means quantitative data affected to a marked extent by multiplicity of causes.

c.
Professor Bowley defined statistics as the numerical statements of facts in any department of enquiry placed in relation to each other.

d.
Prof. Horace Secrist defined statistics as aggregates of facts affected to a marked extent by multiplicity of causes, numerically expressed, enumerated or estimated according to reasonable standards of accuracy, collected in a systematic manner for a predetermined purpose and placed in relation to each other.

Statistics as statistical method
Statistics have been defined, as statistical method, as follows [6,15].

a.
Professor Bowley defined statistics as the Science of Counting, Averages & Measurement of Social Organism.

b.
According to Boddington, statistics is the science of estimates and probabilities. c.
According to King, the science of statistics is the method of judging collective, natural or social phenomena from d.
According to Lovitt, the science of statistics is the method of judging collective, natural or social phenomena from the analysis or enumeration or collection of estimates.

e.
Croxton and Cowden defined statistics as the science which deals with the collection, analysis and interpretation of numerical data. This definition is the universally accepted definition of statistics at the current stage of the development of statistical science.

Jobs in statistics
The definitions of statistics, as mentioned above, imply that the jobs to be done in statistical science can be broadly treated as the following three-stage jobs: a.
Collection of Data (comprising Scrutiny, Classification and representation of Data

Bioscience -Its Identity
The idea and concept of bioscience [16][17][18] can be explained as follows.

Meaning & definition of bioscience
Any of the branches of natural science dealing with the structure and behavior of living organisms is bioscience. The following points clearly express the meaning and definition of bioscience.

a.
Biosciences are at the core of many innovations that lead to products that cure diseases, ensure we have safe and abundant food and water, and contribute to creating new fuels.

b.
Biotechnology is the fusion of bioscience with technology to create and shape industries and products.

c.
Bioscience is the broad term for any type of science dealing with life, like botany, biology, medical, or health science. Genetics, immunology, and biochemistry would also fit in this category.

d.
Bioscience is the study of biology wherein all the applicable sciences (physics, chemistry, etc.) are applied.

e.
Bioscience is any of the branches of natural science dealing with living things, such as their structure, behavior, organization, life processes, as well as their interactions with each other and with the natural environment.

f.
Bioscience is any science that deals with the biological aspects of living organisms.

g.
Bioscience is any science that deals with the functions or problems of living organisms.

h.
Bioscience is an area of scientific study that relates to living things, for example biology or biochemistry.
Bioscience, life science are synonyms of bioscience. Each of the following is a kind of bioscience: a.
Natural science -the sciences involved in the study of the physical world and its phenomena.

b.
Biological science (& also biology) -the science that studies living organisms. c.
Euthenics -the study of methods of improving human well-being and efficient functioning by improving environmental conditions. d.
Cacogenics (& also dysgenics) -the study of the operation of factors causing degeneration in the type of offspring produced. e.
Eugenics -the study of methods of improving genetic qualities by selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating).

f.
Dietetics -the scientific study of food preparation and intake. g.
Dermatoglyphics -the study of the whorls and loops and arches in the fingertips and on the palms of the hand and the soles of the feet.

h.
Craniology -the scientific study of the skulls of various human races. i.
Biometrics (also Biometry & Biostatistics) -the science that studies biological phenomena and observations by means of statistical analysis.

Copyright © Rajesh Kumar Sharma
Biomedical science -the application of the principles of the natural sciences to medicine. k.
Medical science -the science of dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of disease.

Biology
Biology [19], one prime field of bioscience, carries the following definitions and fields of study.

a.
Biology deals with the study of the many varieties of living organisms.

b.
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.

Fields of study in biology
Following are some, but not exhaustive, fields of biology:

1.
Aerobiology -the study of airborne organic particles.

2.
Agriculture -the study of producing crops from the land, with an emphasis on practical applications.

3.
Anatomy -the study of form and function, in plants, animals, and other organisms, or specifically in humans.

4.
Arachnology -the study of arachnids

5.
Astrobiology -the study of evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe-also known as exobiology, exopaleontology, and bioastronomy

6.
Biochemistry -the study of the chemical reactions required for life to exist and function, usually a focus on the cellular level.

7.
Bioengineering -the study of biology through the means of engineering with an emphasis on applied knowledge and especially related to biotechnology.

8.
Biogeography -the study of the distribution of species spatially and temporally.

9.
Bioinformatics -the use of information technology for the study, collection, and storage of genomic and other biological data. 10. Biomathematics (or Mathematical biology) -the quantitative or mathematical study of biological processes, with an emphasis on modeling.
11. Biomechanics -often considered a branch of medicine, the study of the mechanics of living beings, with an emphasis on applied use through prosthetics or orthotics.

12.
Biomedical research -the study of the human body in health and disease.
13. Biomusicology -study of music from a biological point of view.
14. Biophysics -the study of biological processes through physics, by applying the theories and methods traditionally used in the physical sciences.
15. Biotechnology -a new and sometimes controversial branch of biology that studies the manipulation of living matter, including genetic modification and synthetic biology. 16. Building biology -the study of the indoor living environment.
17. Botany -the study of plants. 18. Cell biology -the study of the cell as a complete unit, and the molecular and chemical interactions that occur within a living cell.
19. Conservation biology -the study of the preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife.

20.
Cryobiology -the study of the effects of lower than normally preferred temperatures on living beings.

21.
Developmental biology -the study of the processes through which an organism forms, from zygote to full structure.

22.
Ecology -the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with the non-living elements of their environment.

Embryology -the study of the development of embryo (from fecundation to birth)
24. Entomology -the study of insects.

25.
Environmental biology -the study of the natural world, as a whole or in a particular area, especially as affected by human activity.
26. Epidemiology -a major component of public health research, studying factors affecting the health of populations.
27. Epigenetics -the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence.
28. Ethology -the study of animal behavior. 29. Evolutionary biology -the study of the origin and descent of species over time.
30. Genetics -the study of genes and heredity.

Hematology (also known as Haematology) -the study of blood and blood -forming organs.
32. Herpetology -the study of reptiles and amphibians.

Histology -the study of cells and tissues, a microscopic branch of anatomy.
34. Ichthyology -the study of fish.

35.
Integrative biology -the study of whole organisms.

Microbiology -the study of microscopic organisms (microorganisms) and their interactions with other living things.
40. Molecular biology -the study of biology and biological functions at the molecular level, some cross over with biochemistry.
42. Neurobiology -the study of the nervous system, including anatomy, physiology and pathology.
43. Oncology -the study of cancer processes, including virus or mutation oncogenesis, angiogenesis and tissues remolding's.

44.
Ornithology -the study of birds.

45.
Population biology -the study of groups of conspecific organisms, including.

Population ecology -the study of how population dynamics and extinction.
47. Population genetics -the study of changes in gene frequencies in populations of organisms.

Population genetics -the study of changes in gene frequencies in populations of organisms.
49. Paleontology -the study of fossils and sometimes geographic evidence of prehistoric life.

50.
Pathobiology or pathology -the study of diseases, and the causes, processes, nature, and development of disease.

Parasitology -the study of parasites and parasitism.
52. Pharmacology -the study and practical application of preparation, use, and effects of drugs and synthetic medicines.
53. Physiology -the study of the functioning of living organisms and the organs and parts of living organisms.
54. Phytopathology -the study of plant diseases (also called Plant Pathology).

Psychobiology -the study of the biological bases of psychology.
56. Sociobiology -the study of the biological bases of sociology.
57. Structural biology -a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules.
58. Synthetic Biology-research integrating biology and engineering; construction of biological functions not found in nature.

Virology -the study of viruses and some other virus-like agents.
60. Zoology -the study of animals, including classification, physiology, development, and behavior (branches include: Entomology, Ethnology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Mammalogy, and Ornithology).

Meaning of research
Research is a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding. Following seven points can express the meaning and definition of research [7,[20][21][22]

d.
A scientific investigation of phenomena is that which includes Collection, Presentation, Analysis & Interpretation of Facts that link man's speculation with reality.

e.
Research can be defined to be a process of investigation, an examination of a subject from different points of view.

f.
Research can be defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings which includes synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it leads to new and creative outcomes.

g.
Research can be interpreted as a hunt for the truth.

Types of research
Researches can be of many types: Following are some types of research are as follows: a.
Theoretical researches: conceptual type, theory development type & methodological type of researches.

b.
Applied type of researches: art of application type & application in real situation (reality) type of researches.

Steps in research process
Scientific research involves a systematic process that focuses on being objective and gathering a multitude of information for analysis so that the researcher can come to a conclusion. The scientific research process is a multiple-step process where the steps are interlinked with the other steps in the process. The usual eight steps of the research process [20][21][22] are as follows: i.
Step 1: Identify the Problem: The first step in the process is to identify a problem or develop a research question.

ii.
Step 2: Review the Literature: This step provides foundational knowledge about the problem area.

iii.
Step 3: Clarify the Problem: In this step, the researcher clarifies the problem and narrows the scope of the study. This can only be done after the literature has been reviewed.

iv.
Step 4: Clearly Define Terms and Concepts: Terms and concepts used in research need to be specifically defined in this step.

v.
Step 5: Define the Population: The population, the group of individuals to be involved in research, the study is identified and/ or defined clearly in this step.

vi.
Step 6: Develop the Instrumentation Plan: The instrumentation plan i.e. the plan for the study, which serves as the road map for the entire study, needs to be developed in this step.

vii.
Step 7: Collect Data: Once the instrumentation plan is completed, the actual study begins with the collection of data. Data can be collected in the form of words on a survey, with a questionnaire, through observations, or from the literature. Once the data are collected on the variables, the researcher is ready to move to the final step of the process, which is the data analysis.

viii.
Step 8: Analyze the Data: All the time, effort, and resources dedicated to steps 1 through 7 of the research processes culminate in this final step. The researcher finally has data to analyze so that the research question can be answered. In the instrumentation plan, the researcher specified how the data will be analyzed. The researcher now analyzes the data according to the plan. The results of this analysis are then reviewed and summarized in a manner directly related to the research questions.

Steps of works in bioscience research
From the eight steps of research process [20][21][22] and from the jobs to be done in research [7], the works to be done in bioscience research, in general, can be classified in the following steps arranged in chronological sequence:

1.
Association to Problem: In the first step, researcher/ investigator requires to be associated with the problem existing in the field of interest.

2.
Detection of Problem (for imposed research) / Fixing of Problem (for own research, thrust, adventure etc.): In the next step, researcher/investigator requires to detect the problem(s) existing in the field of interest which need(s) research/investigation.

3.
Fixing / Setting of Objective: In this step, researcher/ investigator requires to fix problem(s) and to set the objective(s) for study.

4.
Setting up of Hypothesis if any: Here, the hypothesis to be tested is to be framed of. Normally, a null hypothesis is framed of against an alternative hypothesis with a level of significance (and also with power of the test if necessary).

5.
Perform Experimentation (for Experimental Research)/ Search for Logic / Derivation Method (for Theoretical Research): In this step, experimentation is performed, or survey is conducted depending upon the requirement if the research is of experimental type. For theoretical research, logic for (or method of derivation of) development of theory is searched for in this step.

6.
Collection of Information/Observation/Data: In this step, data/observation/information is collected for experimental research.

8.
Classification of Data: Classification of data/observation/ information, representation of data/observation/information, Tabulation of data/observation/information, Conversion of form of data/observation/information from the form in collection to the required form is to be done in this step.

9.
Analysis of Data: Analysis of data/observation/ information is to be done in this step. The two broad aspects of analysis are determination (estimation in statistical terminology) and testing of hypothesis.
10. Interpretation of Results: Results/outcomes/findings obtained in the earlier stage, are interpreted in this stage.
11. Drawing of Conclusion: Based on the results/outcomes/ findings and interpretations obtained in the earlier two stages, conclusions/inferences are drawn in this stage.

Concluding Remark
The works to be done in bioscience research and the jobs to be done in statistics are similar. Thus, statistics is fully associated to bioscience research. Also, in any research in bioscience the items namely Scrutiny of Data; Classification of Data; Analysis of Data; Interpretation of Results/Findings & Drawing of Conclusion / Inference, Prescription, Recommendation etc. cannot be performed without the help of statistical method(s). That is why statistics can be regarded as essential and unavoidable tool of bioscience research. The development of bioscience progresses with the development of statistics due to the need of its application in bioscience research and conversely the development of statistics progresses due to the need of new and new statistical methods in bioscience research.
The discipline of biostatistics, which is the application of statistics to a wide range of topics in bioscience has been developed due to the need of statistical methods especially for bioscience research. The concept, meaning, definition and significance of biostatistics are available in many literatures [25][26][27][28][29].


Effects of Using Practical Activities in Teaching Electronics Concept to Pre- service Teachers

The study sought to use practical activities to teach basic electronics concepts to preservice teachers from Atebubu College of Education in Ghana. Action research was used to carry out the investigation. A total of 200 pre-service teachers from first year were conveniently selected for the study. The instruments for the study were achievement test items and questionnaire. The result of the study indicated that the performance of the experimental group was significantly better than the pre-service teachers from the control group. It was recommended that the Principal and the Head of Science Department of Atebubu College of Education should organize workshops, seminars, and in-service training on the effective use of practical activity methods in teaching concept of electronics

Introduction
There are many who are however of the view that, laboratory practical activities are often not easy to carry out. Some of the areas of concern raised by Knott and Mutanga (1995) are: severe time constraints and overloading of timetable leading to serious problems in meeting syllabus requirements in quality and quantity. In developing countries like Ghana, where curricula prescribe the use of practical activities, a number of constraints may prevent the implementation of practical activities in the laboratory. Commonly reported constraints include lack of equipment, large classes, overcrowded syllabi, and an examination system focused on factual recall while ignoring formal assessment of practical outcomes and the application of scientific reasoning to solve problems. For example, in Suva Fiji (north of New Zealand), Monk, Fairbrother and Dillon (1993) reported that teachers' curricula which make practical work mandatory have not been matched by equivalent changes in student evaluation procedures (Cook & Taylor, 1994).
Apart from the constraints mentioned above, another factor is the role of practical activities perceived by teachers in developing countries including Ghana. In many cases, these activities are seen as having the role of confirming scientific knowledge as opposed to being exploratory in nature (Monk, Fairbrother & Dillon, 1993). This role may in part be due to the difficulties in accessing information. In developing countries such as Ghana, access to libraries, ICT network, journals, and Textbooks for example is limited, making it difficult in teaching using practical activities. In addition to the previous constraints, further constraints on the implementation of practical activities in tropical countries such as in Fiji's situation is deterioration of equipment and materials caused by climate (Cook & Taylor, 1994), a situation that is not far from occurring in the coastal parts of Ghana is worth considering. Compounding these problems are low maintenance standards for laboratory facilities and the lack of laboratory assistants requiring teachers to spend lengthy periods preparing experiments. Indeed, tutors may be found to lack the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to perform routine maintenance tasks, and this restricted the amount of practical work that could be performed in a given period of time (Cook & Taylor, 1994). This has necessitated the need to teach basic electronics using practical activities to find out whether it could improve the performance of students.

Statement of the Problem
According to John, William, Sandra & David (1996), students' ability to perform science process skills successfully during a practical lesson is dependent upon the students' previous experience, knowledge, and skills. At the College of Education, it is observed that basic electronics is not on the course outlines of both Integrated Science and Elective Physics but electronics has been added to the syllabus of Basic and Junior High Schools in Ghana since 2006. This has created a big problem for pre-service teachers who teach natural science topics including composition and types of transistors, use of transistors, converting electrical energy into light energy using simple electronic circuit during their internship. It is in the light of this that this research work was undertaken so that pre-service teachers, upon completion of their course of study, will not be found wanting as science teachers in Ghanaian classrooms.

Purpose of the Study
The study sought to use practical activities to teach basic electronics concepts to pre-service teachers from Atebubu College of Education.

Research Question
1. To what extent can practical activities influence pre-service teachers' understanding of basic electronics?

Methodology
The researcher adopted action research to carry out the investigation. The study focused on all preservice teachers from Atebubu College of Education. The college has three year groups of pre-service teachers; year one, two and three. Each year group consisted of five classes; A, B, C, D, and E with 40 preservice teachers in a class; constituting a total of 600 pre-service teachers in the college. The target population was all pre-service teachers from Atebubu College of Education and the accessible population for the study was the 2017/2018 first year pre-service teachers. This is because the first year pre-service teachers were more into learning science content as compared to the other two year groups. A total of 200 pre-service teachers from first year were conveniently selected for the study. Out of the 200 pre-service teachers, 65.0% were males and the other 35.0% were females. There were 100 pre-service teachers in the experimental and 100 in the control groups respectively. The sample was selected purposively. The preservice teachers were given the pre-test to respond and the mean scores were calculated for the two groups. The calculated mean scores for the experimental group was M= 11.1 (SD= 6.7) and that of control group was M= 10.1(SD= 6.9). The placement of the pre-service teachers into the experimental and control groups was aided by the mean scores of the pre-service teachers in the pre-test. The pre-service teachers from groups with lower mean score (that is DBE 1A and D) were placed in the experimental group whereas the pre-service teachers with high mean score (that is DBE 1B and C) were placed in the control group. The instruments for the study were achievement test items and questionnaire. The research instruments were then pilot-tested with 30 pre-service teachers from Offinso College of Education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. This is because the college was a co-educational institution and offered the same programs as the sampled center. The reliability of the achievement test was determined with the KR20 coefficient of reliability. This is because the test items were scored right or wrong. The KR20 reliability was calculated as 0.7 for both the pre-test and post-test. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of reliability was used to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. It was established as 0.8.

Results/Discussion
Research question 1 sought to find out the pre-service teachers' understanding of basic electronics. To be able to achieve this, the pre-service teachers were initially given a pre-test to respond to. The results of the responses of the pre-service teachers from the pre-test are presented in Table 1. From Table 1, the results show that two-thirds of the pre-service teachers from the control group with a mean score of 10.1 (SD = 6.9, Max score = 31) scored marks ranging from 3.2 to 17.0 However, two-thirds of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group with a mean of 11.1 (SD = 6.7, Max score = 27) scored marks ranging from 4.4 to 17.8. From Table 3, the findings show that the pre-service teachers show low performance in the pre-test and therefore seem to have difficulty in the concept of basic electronics. This could be inferred from the low mean scores for the pre-service teachers from the control and experimental groups.
A further look at the results in Table 1 shows that there was a difference between the performance of the pre-service teachers from the control and the experimental groups. This is because the mean score (M = 10.1, SD = 6.9) of the pre-service teachers from the control group seemed to be lower to that of the mean score (M = 11.1, SD = 6.7) of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group. To determine whether the difference between the mean scores of the pre-service teachers from the two groups was significant as being investigated by the research hypothesis, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. Table 2 presents the results of the Mann-Whitney U test analysis on the pre-service teachers' mean scores.  Table 2 show that there was no statistical significant difference between the mean scores of the pre-service teachers from the control group and the pre-service teachers from the experimental group. The reason being that the mean rank, 94.4 (Mann-Whitney U = 4393.0, Z = -1.490, p = 0.136) of the pre-service teachers from the control group was statistically not different from the mean rank, 106.6 of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group in the pre-test on basic electronics.
Research question 1 further sought to investigate the understanding of the pre-service teachers of basic electronics after having taking the teachers through the concept of basic electronic using the practical activity method. The pre-service teachers were made to respond to the post-test items on basic electronics. Table 3 presents the results of the mean scores of the pre-service teachers in the post-test on basic electronics. The results from Table 3 show that two-thirds of the pre-service teachers with a low mean (M = 11.5, SD = 7.2, Max score = 33) scored marks between 4.3 and 18.7 whereas two-thirds of the pre-service teachers with high mean (M = 26.8, SD = 12.9, Max score = 49) scored marks between 13.9 and 39.7. From Table 3, the findings show that the pre-service teachers from the experimental group performed creditably well compared to the pre-service teachers from the control group. Therefore the pre-service teachers from the experimental group's understanding of basic electronics could be said to have been enhanced by the use of the practical activity method. From Table 3, the results further the show that the mean score (M = 26.8, SD = 12.9, Max score = 49) of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group was higher than that of the mean score (M = 11.5, SD = 7.2, Max score = 33) of the pre-service teachers from the control group. To investigate further whether there was statistical significant difference between the mean scores of the pre-service teachers form the control and the experimental group, the Mann-Whitney U test analysis was conducted. The Mann-Whitney U test analysis results of the pre-service teachers' performance in the post-test are presented in Table 4.  Table 4, the results show that there was statistical significant difference between the mean scores of the pre-service teachers from the control and the experimental groups. This is because the mean rank (Mean rank = 134.5, Mann-Whitney U = 1600.0, Z = -8.319, p = 0.000) of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group was higher to that of the mean rank, 66.5 of the pre-service teachers from the control group. The findings show that the pre-service teachers from the experimental group performed significantly better than the pre-service teachers from the control group. This could be attributed to the practical activities the pre-service teachers were introduced to, which has enhanced their understanding of the concept of basic electronics (Lunetta, 1998).

Key Findings
The following were the key findings of the study. The understanding of pre-service teachers in basic electronics: a. Was weak in the pre-test at the pre-intervention stage of the study. This is because the mean scores of the pre-service teachers from both the control and the experimental groups were very low. b. Was significantly not different in the pre-test at the pre-intervention stage of the study. This is because the mean score of the pre-service teachers from the control group was statistically significantly not different from the mean score of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group in the pre-test. c. The performance of the experimental group was high as such pre-service teachers obtained a high mean and maximum score in the post-test after the intervention. This is also further supported by the fact that two-thirds of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group fell within a large range of the mean score. d. The performance of the experimental group was significantly better than the pre-service teachers from the control group. This is because the mean score of the pre-service teachers from the experimental group was statistically different from the mean score of the pre-service teachers from the control group.

Conclusion
The study sought to use practical activities to teach basic electronics concepts to pre-service teachers from Atebubu College of Education to improve their understanding. It was concluded that the performance of the experimental group was significantly better than the pre-service teachers from the control group after the intervention. Recommendations 1. The Principal and the Head of Science Department of Atebubu College of Education should organize workshops, seminars, and in-service training on the effective use of practical activity methods in teaching concept of electronics.


Teacher Xu: Entering a Classroom in Late Qing China

This is the story of Teacher Xu.We know this story because of a set of teaching materialsTeacherXu left behind thatwere preservedbyhis student. TeacherXu was not a member of China’s elite but, rather, a typical schoolteacher living at the end of the Qing dynasty, when the time-honored and traditional approach to pedagogy was still very much in force. He must have been a lively teacher, with a charismatic personality and a touch of humor, which he brought into the classroom. He seems to have been deeply committed to his students and was concerned about their well-being. All these qualities are reflected in the teaching materials, the “text” he used. Teacher Xu was one of the common people in China. He made his living using his knowledge of writing and his own education to work as a teacher of boys (who were most likely to be students) most likely ages seven to sixteen. He imparted basic reading and writing skills and the intellectual culture they had inherited as Chinese. Some of the boys may have hoped to continue their studies and to take the provincial-level examination that would lead to a government-awarded degree. But when the traditional educational systemwas abolished in 1905, and when new elementary schools using new-style printed textbooks were adopted, Teacher Xu’s traditional texts and classroom style began to fall out of favor. The old-style education did not disappear in China after 1906, especially in the countryside, though ambitious students and their parents knew that the modern age called for a different set of skills and a less traditional worldview. The teaching materials we have that allow us to compose a portrait of Teacher Xu consist of 102 pages of handwritten information that Teacher Xu decided one day to have copied and bound together with string. He no doubt had other texts and materials in either handwritten or printed form that he used in the classroom,but these are thematerials that came intomypossession. I bought the bound text used by Teacher Xu at the Panjiayuan market in Beijing in September 2005, when I had just begun to collect handwritten texts offered by the used booksellers. The price was not high, because most

Introduction
This is the story of Teacher Xu. We know this story because of a set of teaching materials Teacher Xu left behind that were preserved by his student. Teacher Xu was not a member of China's elite but, rather, a typical schoolteacher living at the end of the Qing dynasty, when the time-honored and traditional approach to pedagogy was still very much in force. He must have been a lively teacher, with a charismatic personality and a touch of humor, which he brought into the classroom. He seems to have been deeply committed to his students and was concerned about their well-being. All these qualities are reflected in the teaching materials, the "text" he used.
Teacher Xu was one of the common people in China. He made his living using his knowledge of writing and his own education to work as a teacher of boys (who were most likely to be students) most likely ages seven to sixteen. He imparted basic reading and writing skills and the intellectual culture they had inherited as Chinese. Some of the boys may have hoped to continue their studies and to take the provincial-level examination that would lead to a government-awarded degree. But when the traditional educational system was abolished in 1905, and when new elementary schools using new-style printed textbooks were adopted, Teacher Xu's traditional texts and classroom style began to fall out of favor. The old-style education did not disappear in China after 1906, especially in the countryside, though ambitious students and their parents knew that the modern age called for a different set of skills and a less traditional worldview.
The teaching materials we have that allow us to compose a portrait of Teacher Xu consist of 102 pages of handwritten information that Teacher Xu decided one day to have copied and bound together with string. He no doubt had other texts and materials in either handwritten or printed form that he used in the classroom, but these are the materials that came into my possession.
I bought the bound text used by Teacher Xu at the Panjiayuan market in Beijing in September 2005, when I had just begun to collect handwritten texts offered by the used booksellers. The price was not high, because most people were not interested in these old texts of uncertain date and unknown provenance. I thought about the text and the meanings of the information I found there, and the result is this chapter about Teacher Xu.

Schoolteachers in the Late Qing
I estimate that Teacher Xu lived between 1840 and about 1910. This assumed date of his birth is based information given in his text. My method of calculating the dates given here is outlined at the end of this chapter. These estimates allow me to create a logical chronology for the life of Teacher Xu and his students.
As a teacher in a traditional-style school in the late Qing dynasty, assuming that he taught between about 1865 and 1905, Teacher Xu had likely received some formal education and had likely studied for the lowest formal degree, the shengyuan, offered by the county government. Had he passed the examination, Teacher Xu would have been a xiucai. In earlier times, he might have wanted to continue his studies in order to take the higher-level government examinations; passing those exams could lead to appointment as a government official. Being a government official brought with it high social status and the opportunity for a financially secure future. By the end of the Qing, however, the number of xiucai wanting to take the higher-level government exams exceeded available government posts, so even if he passed all the examinations, it is unlikely that Teacher Xu would have been offered a government job. It is also possible that Teacher Xu took the first exam but was unable to pass the next-level examination, even though he had studied hard, had a good knowledge of Chinese history and literature, and could boast of good calligraphy. It was an established custom in China that some scholars spent much of their lives preparing for the examinations and taking them repeatedly until they passed or gave up trying.1 figure 4.1 Storyteller. Men such as this made a living by reciting historical stories and romances, usually from sources that had been circulating for generations, in a practice known as pingshu 評書. Because these men could read and write, they often also worked as schoolteachers or in any of the other lines of work requiring some literacy. But unlike highly educated elite scholars, these men were pingmin, who earned money from the crowds of people who stopped to listen to their stories in the public marketplace or at a local temple courtyard. Nevertheless, those who had studied for the exam and had actually taken it considered themselves intellectuals, and they were also considered intellectuals by the general public. These men advertised their status as educated people by wearing a scholar's gown and skullcap in public. People who saw them did not know who had passed the examination and who had not, and the gown and cap elicited general respect from people encountered on the street. In a society where the majority of the people could not read or write well, the person who had received some formal education and could read and write was given general respect.2 However, the practical problem for most graduates of how to earn a living remained. Chinese society at the time had about a 30 percent rate of literacy, meaning that the majority of people could not easily read or write beyond writing their own name and recognizing some basic words.3 As mentioned in previous chapters, educated men turned to professions that took advantage of their knowledge of texts. Some became herbal doctors [langzhong 郎中], fortunetellers, ritual masters, and legal advisors. Some were scribes who could write letters for people and the matching couplets used at weddings and other ceremonies. Many educated men worked as teachers in the local schools and academies that existed in almost all cities and often even in villages.
In the Qing dynasty, there was no nationally approved curriculum supervised by higher-level authorities and no controlled set of teaching materials. Of course, through custom and centuries of use, everyone was aware of the foundational texts used in elementary education [ Chinese history, literature, and common morality from their teacher's comments on the texts. A broader set of texts and written materials dealing with philosophy, literature, policy making, and history had become sanctioned as standard texts over centuries of use, overseen and approved by the authorities in the capital at Beijing, and these were the basis of the higher-level examinations. Schools at the local level were rarely supervised by any higher authorities, except for the people who hired and paid them.4 Thus teachers at local levels  pany, 1902, 1922) could determine their own sequence of introducing materials to students, and they could introduce other materials they found relevant. Although given general respect by society and their students, teachers at the local level were not paid much. Often their pay consisted of some cash, in addition to food, free lodging, and possibly some free meals. In the chaoben Riches Bestowed [Qianjinfu 千金賦] (see Chapter 1), a schoolteacher during the early Republican era described his modest pay, given to him in both currency and dictionary that goes well beyond what would have been considered an appropriate level for elementary education. The very pliant quality of the bleached paper and the sharp printing indicate this is a quality volume most likely from the late Qing period. grain. He recorded using the income to buy some coal, chalk, and a newspaper subscription.5 At that time, 40 yuan per month (equal to about usd$ 20) was adequate to meet all basic needs for a single individual or a small nuclear family in Fengtian 奉天 (present-day Shenyang 瀋陽).6 Thus with the clues given in his chaoben, we can fairly safely assume that this teacher lived in south Manchuria during that period. His cash income, when combined with the food he was also given, allowed him to meet all his basic expenses for rent and food. By teaching at three schools, our teacher earned more than carpenters or skilled laborers. That income, combined with the "status" given to his profession, must have made him feel that he was an upstanding resident of the city.7

Teacher Xu Orders a Set of Teaching Materials to be Prepared
Teacher Xu lived and taught in or near the city of Panshi 盤石 in Jilin Province.8 Panshi is south of Jilin city, located on a major route that ran south through Liaoyuan 遼源 to Fengtian, the largest city in south Manchuria. (The city is 374 miles, or 602km, northeast of Chaoyang, mentioned above in this chapter.) A city had been located at the site of Panshi for at least a thousand years. It received the name Panshi during the Ming dynasty in 1384, when a government garrison was set up there. In the late Qing, the city was enjoying a renaissance of sorts, with increasing numbers of people moving into the area and with lively and profitable markets. In 1902 it was designated the county seat for Panshi county.
We do not know the dates for the next part of the story, but the story can begin to take shape based on some educated guesses. In about 1883, when he was forty-three years old, Teacher Xu took some materials that he had to 5 The discussion in the notes to Chapter 1 discuss the probable location of where the teacher worked, Chaoyang 朝陽, and the currency in which he was paid. Korean-bound books, in contrast, use five holes. Many Koreans resided in this area of southern Jilin, and this indicates that the person who bound the book, if not also the copyist, was most likely Korean.9 Information on shops that offered copying services has been difficult to find. Yet in the culture of late Qing and early Republican China, in which a vibrant manuscript culture continued to exist in spite of the provenance of printed matter that was inexpensive and easily available, it would be logical to assume that such services were offered, either by shops or by individuals. I assume these services would be located inside a bookseller's shop. This service might have been offered by shops that offered seal carving [kezidian 刻字店], because a person able to write calligraphy well with a brush was needed to inscribe the text of the seals before they were carved. We can also assume that scribes were available near government offices in order to make copies of government documents and to help clients with the paperwork that those dealing with government bureaucrats might need. In the Ming dynasty, there was a lane in Beijing called Assistant's Lane [Chashou hutong 插手胡同], but by the Qing, its name had been changed to Copyist's Lane [Chaoshou hutong 抄手胡同].10 About 1910, reflecting the desire to institute a republican form of government, a National Assembly [Zhongyiyuan 眾議院] building was built on this land. Obviously, this became an area where government documents and communications could be copied by hand. Most likely, petitions and responses to government communications could also be written for those who were not able to write themselves. After 1928, when the city was named Beiping and the Guomindang had moved its capital to Nanjing, the National Assembly building was used by the University of Legal Administration [Fazheng daxue 法 政大學]. In 1938 the building was again used as the National Assembly under the administration set up by the Japanese occupying the city. Later in 1941, it became the Legislative Yuan [Faxueyuan 法學院]. Although the lane still exists in Beijing as Chaoshou hutong, I have not been able to find specific information about any shops in the area currently offering copying services and did not see any when I visited the area.
Not only have I been unable to find references to copyist's shops in the late Qing, but the Chinese scholars with whom I have discussed this problem are not even sure what terms were used to refer to these shops. It has been suggested that copyists were referred to as "writing servants" [ yongshuren 佣 書人], and someone who was willing to copy materials would simply put up a sign with his name on it.11 10 In the early Qing, this section of the city was known as the  榮寶斎代收] in Liulichang 琉璃廠. This piece of information confirmed my assumption that bookshops served as contacts for the copying business, or that copying was one of the services they could provide.12 Mr. Gong's advertisement gave the full range of texts he could prepare: birthday congratulations [shouxu 壽序], poems [shici 詩詞], matched phrases [lianhua 聯話], and so on. The shop offered delivery in three to seven days. He could furnish standard poetry in five-or seven-line verses, each poem 4 Chinese dollars, as well as written scrolls of poems, 50fen (cents) apiece regardless of the size or number of characters. The shop did not have a generic name, such as "copy shop;" rather, Mr. Gong simply described his services.
The copy shop in Panshi to which Teacher Xu brought his materials in 1880 likewise did not clearly state its line of business in its name. It was simply named Zhizhoutang, which was written on the front cover by the company. The company's stamp, which was embossed on the front cover and on one of the inside pages (p. 9), included Panshi, allowing us to determine the city in which the company was located.13 On the front cover of the book was the title Three Items for Mr. Xu [Xu shi sanzhong 徐氏三種]. The title, which was both impersonal and descriptive, first made me wonder about how the materials had been produced and why, and it proved to be the key to my attempt to reconstruct the story of Teacher Xu. Mr. Xu seemed unlikely to write such a title for materials he had copied himself, whereas it was a natural title for a shop that had prepared and bound the materials for a customer. It appears the copyist began to copy the Thousand-Character Classic and, after the preface, inserted two extra leaves of paper (four pages). As is still the practice with paid calligraphers, they supply the customer with all copies of their work, or they provide several versions of their work, expecting the customer to select the version they prefer. In the case of this book, one of the items presented to Teacher Xu, although in a hand different from that of the main copyist, is the medical prescription (discussed below) that appears after the preface but before the text of the Thousand-Character Classic.  The

Thousand-Character Classic
The biggest single project Teacher Xu requested was a copy of the Thousand-Character Classic [Qianziwen 千字文], which makes up the bulk of the text, from pages 2-100 (according to my consecutive numbering of the pages).
Teacher Xu most likely wanted to have a copy of the Thousand-Character Classic for use as a teaching aid and for his reference. Universally recognized in China, this text was originally prepared in Chinese from an earlier Mongolian version in the early sixth century, during the Liang 梁 dynasty (502-557), by the scholar Zhou Xingsi 周興嗣 (d. 521ce). The text uses four-character phrases that rhyme to introduce ideas about moral precepts, traditional values, natural phenomenon, and the structural and cultural traits of Chinese society.14 Over the centuries, the work became a standard primer for Chinese students. It has been used as one of the basic readers for elementary education since the Qing dynasty.15 It was also one of the texts whose phrases could be used as part of the traditional civil service examinations. The text of this famous work begins with the words: [At the beginning] The sky was dark and the earth was brown; The universe was formed from a vast wilderness. Respect what your parents have nourished.

恭惟鞠養.
Do not impair or injure your body.

豈敢毀傷.
Women should cherish purity and chastity.

男效才良.
Teacher Xu's copy of the Thousand-Character Classic contains annotations of each couplet, so it would make a useful reference as a teaching text. The text and its annotations were written in a clean hand by the professional copyist, who was able to produce consistently clear script in a uniform style. This is a fairly long text, consisting of both the text and an extensive commentary on each statement. Teacher Xu must have spent a lot of time as he introduced each statement to the students, explaining the new characters, and maybe having the boys memorize the text as the class proceeded through it. The commentaries were a guide for Teacher Xu's own explanations to the students. He may have asked them to copy the commentaries as well.

A Recipe for Chinese Medicine
The second item Teacher Xu asked Zhizhoutang to copy was a prescription or a recipe for some Chinese medicine [hanfang 漢方]. This recipe (p. 3) was inserted between the preface and the text of the Thousand-Character Classic. Following the recipe, the copyist added three leaves of paper (pp. 4-9), then repeated the Zhizhoutang stamp, and began the text and commentaries of the Thousand-Character Classic.
The recipe was a list of natural ingredients, with the required amounts. Among the ingredients listed were: domestic ginseng [lucan 潞參], 5 fen (a fen 分 is the smallest unit of measurement, equaling only a few ounces, or a "pinch."); bamboo leaves [zhuye 竹葉], 5 fen; anther (a medicine extracted from flowers) [ It appears this was medicine for obtaining a good night's sleep. It might have been for Teacher Xu's personal use or perhaps recommended by a friend who learned that Teacher Xu was having trouble sleeping. It might just as easily have been a recipe that Teacher Xu recommended to others when he offered them medical advice. It was not uncommon for educated xiucai to earn income on the side as medical consultants or herbal doctors. Because they were able to read medical texts, and people with no formal education considered xiucai knowledgeable in all matters involving writing and books, ordinary people, the pingmin, felt comfortable asking educated people for medical advice.18

Having Fun with a Riddle
Because he liked to interact with his students, Teacher Xu wanted to use a riddle [miyu 謎語] as an instructional tool and as a class activity that would interest the boys and engage them in a group activity. So he asked for a riddle to be copied into his book, and that became the third item for Mr. Xu along with the Thousand-Character Classic and the recipe for Chinese medicine.
The riddle he chose was a type known as "find the four words" [dasizi 打 四字]. It consisted of four lines, each of which gave a clue to forming another word, and the secret word revealed the moral of the sentence. The new word was constructed by combining parts of two of the characters in the sentence. In Teacher Xu's example, the keyword was "valuables" [bei 貝], which occurred in each sentence and was part of each of the newly constructed words. The first line of the riddle read: "This person could not take care of his valuables" [conglaizhe, bei bukexing 從來者, 貝不可行]. Combining the words "person" [zhe 者] and "valuables" [bei 貝] yields the new word "gamble" [du 賭], meaning the person who is not mindful about his valuables will gamble them away.
The second line reads, "They allowed their valuables to be put in jeopardy" [zhi yinlingbei, luanfangcun 只因令貝, 亂方寸], and the newly created word is "greedy" [tan 貪], meaning "they became greedy," formed by combining the words "allowed" [ling 令] and "valuables" [bei 貝]. The third line reads, "They scattered the valuables they had" [ youkan, yiri fenbeile 有看, 一日分貝了], with the new word "poor" [pin 貧], meaning "they became poor." The fourth line reads, "It was as if they were guarding the valuables" [ yiran, shige xubeiren 依然, 是個戍貝人], resulting in the new word "steal" [zei 賊], meaning "they turned to thievery in an effort to acquire valuables."19 If we look carefully at this riddle, we can see that the characters to be combined are next to each other, and each line contains the key character 貝 bei. To an adult, this might be quickly apparent, but for the ten-or eleven-yearold boys he was teaching, the lines must have been a challenge to untangle, and solving the riddle likely gave them a sense of accomplishment. We can guess that Teacher Xu assigned the unraveling of each line to a different group of boys and had them compete to see which group could uncover the secret word and its meaning the most quickly. He might then have told each group to keep their findings secret and then had each group challenge the other boys to see which individuals from the other groups might be able to uncover the meanings of the other sentences. After the meaning of each sentence and all the new characters were discovered, Teacher Xu might launch into a lecture about the morality involved in the story. This activity could easily have taken up an hour or more of class time, with the chance for a hearty back-and-forth among the students. Teacher Xu must have enjoyed playing this word game with his students, knowing that, along with the new characters they might learn, the game also conveyed a lesson in morality.
Indeed, combining a lesson in conventional morality with whatever other instruction was taking place was a pervasive practice in premodern China. Regardless of the topic at hand, every opportunity was taken to insert words encouraging observance of the tenants of the widely accepted moral norms. Because of a broad assumption in Chinese society that most texts contained a moral instruction for the reader, Teacher Xu's switch from the fun of solving the riddle to talking about the moral lessons to be drawn was quite acceptable if not expected.

Jottings on the Final Pages
On the final pages, inside and outside the back cover of the bound book he had had produced, Teacher Xu wrote down some notes that reveal more about 19 Interesting the man and the role of this text in his life. For example, we know that he was a teacher from the fact that, on the inside cover (p. 102) he wrote the names of six of his students. His favorite must have been Wang Jüfu 王聚福, an eleven-year-old who was originally from Pingding 平丁 County in Shanxi Province. He wrote Wang's address as Jilin Province, Henan Road, Hexingyin Department Store [Hexingyin baihuodian 和興陻百貨店]. We might infer that the boy lived with his parents above their general store. If this were the case, we can guess that young Wang Jufu did not come from a wealthy family, but that his parents were shopkeepers, and they lived in the same building as the shop. Modern readers might hear the words "department store" and have in mind a large building stocked with ordered shelves of goods. But this was not usually the case in late Qing or Republican China, where modest shops could easily adopt a grand name. Even in the People's Republic of China, many small shops cluttered with soft drinks, candy, and cigarettes call themselves "supermarkets" [chaoshi 超市], even though in physical size they are more on the order of a large kiosk. Teacher Xu also wrote down the names of some of his other students and added comments about their personalities or their "fate." We could take these characterizations as a psychological insight that Teacher Xu had about each boy. But it is more likely that because he was literate, ordinary people likely saw Teacher Xu as someone who was able to analyze people and tell things about the future. In other words, the pingmin often believed that educated people were versed to some degree in fortunetelling. Many xiucai did turn to fortunetelling as a way to earn some income, and they copied and consulted the fortunetelling manuals available. Thus Teacher Xu might have been predicting the future of his students as much as he was characterizing their personalities.
Teacher Xu added his own motto to the page: "Seize the day and you will succeed" [Zhiri gaosheng 指日, 高陞]. It is a good motto for the students, but Teacher Xu did not necessarily intend to let the boys see his comments about them, and the motto might reflect more the character of Teacher Xu, who was an active and outgoing person.

Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter is to examine Three Items for Mr. Xu and to set it in a plausible context. By making a series of logical assumptions, we can estimate generally when the texts were copied and the role they played in a typical Chinese class at the time. By extrapolating from clues in the materials, we can make other reasonable guesses about Teacher Xu, who commissioned the texts to be compiled, as well as his personality and his approach to teaching and to his students. My overall assumptions about the book are as follows: the book was copied in about 1880, when Teacher Xu was about forty years old. This I consider was the first generation of the book's life.
At some point, after using the book in class, perhaps in 1883, when he was forty-three years old, Teacher Xu gave the book to one of his favorite students Wang Bingming 王秉鳴, who proudly practiced writing his name on the back cover. He wrote his name five times, one of which is incomplete because the last character of his name is missing. I assume that in 1883 Wang was about twelve years old, a typical age for studying the Thousand-Character Classic and being able to solve the riddle in the text.
From his writing of the names of several of his students, along with some comments about their personalities and their future, I surmise that Teacher Xu had a caring and attentive relationship with his students. The riddle indicates that he could make the lessons fun for the students. It would not be unusual for a teacher who felt close to his students to make a gift of one of their class texts to one of his favorites. Wang must have treasured the book and his memories of Teacher Xu. He may have read the book many times out of nostalgia. Wang's possession of the text between 1883 and 1920 was the second generation of the book's life.
I think that Wang Bingming 王秉鳴 kept the book for more than thirty years, during which time he grew older and became bald. It is possible he did not continue his formal schooling and thus found rereading the text useful and interesting. The book then passed to another young student. Whether Wang gave the book to the student or he died and the book was left behind are both possibilities. We have only one specific date in the book: when the young student wrote the date he received the book on the cover in pencil, June 27, 1920. That was the third generation in the life of the book.
That student wrote another comment on the inside of the front cover that seems to link Wang to the book. He must have seen "old" Mr. Wang lovingly reading the book, so the student wrote: "This is the book that retired baldheaded Wang used to read so earnestly" [Wang yuanwai san, tulaorenjia, ta  Perhaps the most important point of this chapter is that these materials need to be respected because they were created by pingmin. These cultural artifacts were used in their daily lives. This bound volume was used by Teacher Xu in the performance of his profession as a teacher and to earn a living. It was used by Teacher Xu's students to learn valuable skills, which would help them to become productive adults with a degree of formal education that could increase their standing in society. When we first view these items, they may not seem to have a clear context. But they are part of a larger and culturally rich milieu. They were part of the lives of ordinary people in China in the late Qing and early Republican period. In order to understand them fully, not only their materiality but the contexts in which they were actively used by living people, we need to bring them to life, to animate them by making them props in an ongoing human drama-because that is what they were. In analyzing Three Items for Mr. Xu, I have created a story that is logical and plausible and that helps bring the chaoben and their owners to life.

Calculating the Dates of This Book
The dates in this chapter regarding the lives of the protagonists and the book's creation and transmission were calculated as follows. Based on the different handwriting in the book and the one clear date of 1920, I tried to reconstruct the book's life cycle. Certainly, the stamp of the copy shop on the cover with the name of Panshi in Northeast China was also important in establishing the context of the place where it was produced.
Based on how an elementary class was organized in the late Qing period, it was clear that these materials (except for the drug prescription) would be useful in classroom instruction. If the teacher was a member of the educated population, perhaps a xiucai, it would be evident why he asked to have the prescription copied down, because, as stated above and in other chapters, many holders of the lowest-level government degree earned income by acting as herbal doctors. They were literate and were looked up to by many people in society, who would have considered it natural for them to give medical advice and pass along prescriptions.
To estimate the time frame of the creation of the book and Teacher Xu's life, I took the one clearly written date of 1920 on the inside front cover and calculated back three generations, considering roughly thirty years as a generation. A new generation begins when young adults marry and have a child. I assumed in my calculations that these were poor people, not high on the economic ladder, so marriage occurred late for males (late twenties or early thirties), which was when a child was born. Using this imprecise calculation, I calculate that Teacher Xu might have been born about 1840. I assume that he had the book figure 4.13 Selling Mantou. The man in the foreground is selling mantou 饅頭, a steamed bread that is popular in Manchuria and North China. Considered an affordable and filling food, it can be filled with ground meat, vegetables, or sweet red bean paste. The photo was probably taken in Beijing around 1918. sidney d. gamble photographs, david m. rubenstein rare book & manuscript library, duke library bound in 1880. Judging from the paper used and the materials inside, this date seems reasonable. I assume that Teacher Xu was forty-three years old in 1883, when he gave the book as a memento to twelve-year-old Wang Bingming 王 秉鳴, the boy who became bald-headed Wang. Under the old system, students in Chinese elementary classes were usually between seven and sixteen years old, so I selected twelve years old as the most typical age for students in the elementary private schools.21 The third generation of the book's life began in 1920, when bald-headed Wang, or someone else, gave the book to a student. I assume the date of June 27, 1920, was written by a student around age twelve when he received it. Judging from the handwriting in pencil, I guess that this student was of elementaryschool age. If he was twelve years old in 1920, then he had been born in 1908. Wang Bingming 王秉鳴, the bald-headed man who might have given the book to the young student might have been born in 1871, and his baldness at age fortynine was noticeable to the boy. 21 These are commonly accepted dates for the ages of elementary schoolchildren in traditional China. They are repeatedly cited by Ōsawa, "Keimō to kyogyō no aida."


Pen Pals Are Now in Your Finger Tips— A Global Collaboration Online Project to Develop Writing Skills

Many Malaysian students have an aversion towards writing. This study explores the potential of using an online material entitled, PenPal Schools, in the English as Second Language (ESL) classroom to develop writing skill with peers around the world via an online collaborative project. A research was carried out to provide insights into the aspects of PenPal Schools that are useful in developing writing skills and to find out the potential of this material as a teaching and learning tool in writing lessons. Thirty 12-year-old primary school students from Cheras, Selangor were chosen as the participants based on their March 2018 school based assessment writing results together with May 2018 school based midterm writing results to avoid any biasness. After the March test, they were required to join PenPal Schools and take part in the online collaborative project. The research used mixed-method design where quantitative data from pre- and post-tests and responses from semi-structured interviews were used to measure the outcome. The post test result reflected the improvement in their writing skill and it hadfound out that this educational website could make the writing lessons become more interesting as they could communicate and learn with peers around the world, particularly native speakers. This positive engagement in a dynamic and collaborative classroom is hoped to shed new light on the era of 4.0 education.

Introduction
Throughout the years, Malaysian government has made a lot of effort to upgrade our students' English proficiency level which is eventually vital for benchmarking our country's education system against PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) to a higher level. Efforts like strengthening the teaching of English Language via Peer Learning Community (PLC), introducing LINUS 2.0 with a wider scope to address English language literacy holistically, making it compulsory for all Malaysian students to pass SPM English starting from 2016, rolling out new and revised curricular-CEFR in both primary and secondary level etc. are of paramount importance in helping our students to achieve above global average scores as well as to fulfil the goals of language learning as stated in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025. Undoubtedly, English is known as the international language of communication and it must be emphasized in order to help in developing competent individuals that are well versed in English so that our learners will be ready to strive for their best in the 4 th industrial revolution.
However, of all language skills, writing skill has found out to be rather difficult. This statement is further supported by Mohamad, Ghazali and Hashim (2018), where they have also stated that writing skill is an essential aspect of academic performance yet it is commonly known as a difficult area for second language learners. So, how shall we classify one as a competent writer? According to Yunus and Chien, 2016, a competent writer must have a holistic and comprehensive knowledge of grammar, use the right choice of vocabulary or phrases, understand the writing mechanics, know the organizational skills as well as having varied writing styles. Unfortunately, based on the results in PISA 2012 and 2015, it was sad to state that our Malaysian learners are still not up to the international level yet (Abdullah & Peter, 2015). Despite many writing programmes have been introduced in Malaysia, the results are still not favourable. Moreover, Ien, Yunus and Embi (2017) also claimed that literacy is vital in preparing out pupils to achieve personal growth and even confidence in order to help them to be an effective and productive member of our society. So, it is important for educators to look for new programme like PenPal Schools to solve literacy issue. Nevertheless, Yunus (2018) stated that in order to enable our students to become a better communicator, we should perhaps go beyond everything, be it grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. She further elaborated that the educators should leave behind the conventional methods and try to make a difference by communicating effectively in international settings (Yunus, 2018). Subsequently, an online material entitled, PenPal School was found to match the criteria which Yunus (2018) had suggested and it was introduced in the Malaysian English as Second Language (ESL) classroom, with the hope of developing Malaysian ESL learners writing skill via an online collaborative project with peers around the world. On top of that, Yunus (2018) also stated that one of the biggest advantages of the internet for language learners is the rapid widespread availability of multiple authentic resources. This has enabled teachers to use authentic online materials when we talk about teaching. So, this paper would discuss how PenPal Schools, an authentic online material, could help in developing writing skills among ESL learners. The next section would discuss what PenPal

Brief Introduction on PenPal Schools
PenPal Schools is a free learning website (https://www.penpalschools.com/) that is recognised globally which connects our students with students around the world to learn on certain topics via collaborative online projects. It is a global learning community which has rapidly grown to over a quarter million of students in 150 countries (PenPal Press). According to Common Sense Media, it is voted as the "Top Pick for Learning", "Top Pick for Middle School", "Top Pick for Global Education" and "Best of 2017". Quoted from the web to support the awards won, PenPal Schools is "A thoughtful, ready-to-go platform that builds global awareness and collaboration skills by facilitating authentic, cross-cultural Project Based Learning experiences". Moreover, PenPal Schools is even recognized at the White House by President Obama as one of the leading social enterprises. In 2017, it had entered the Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESA) and eventually won the third prize.
So, what do students learn in PenPal Schools? The contents of the projects span all areas, such as, human rights, fake news, robotics, joining forces for the environment, protecting the planet, a world of food, the power of art, literature etc. Each lesson will take about 30 -45 minutes to complete. The aims include helping the learners to develop critical reading, to practise writing in a creative way, to enhance their technology or digital skills as well as to learn social-emotional skills in an authentic way. Upon getting pen pals for their collaborative project, the learners are given a certain period of time to complete some mini tasks individually. The tasks include reading some interesting articles in which glossary is provided, listening to short broadcasts and also taking part in a forum. Then, upon completing, they will be matched with learners from other countries on the matching day. After that, they will be in the same platform to complete a collaborative project. Examples of projects that they need to do are like food journal, introducing the culture in your country by recording a short video and even to organise a project to clean up the rubbish at the beach etc. Finally, they will share what they do in PenPal Schools with their peers. Then, their works will be graded and teachers could provide some reviews. Last but not least, in term of safety protocol. It is completely safe as only verified teachers and their students can join. All messages by the learners could be monitored by the teachers and all data is secure and encrypted.

Issues in Writing
In Malaysia, learning English at the age of seven is a must. Unfortunately, after years of learning the language, Malaysian students are still found out to be weak in English, especially in term of writing, though numerous programs have been introduced. In fact, this phenomenon is just the same as the situation in Poland. Pitura and Monika (2018) claimed that the English language activities conducted for Polish schools were not authentic and therefore could not arouse students' interest. Pitura and Monika (2018) further elaborated their points by stating that despite curricular officers had ensured to design a curricular with a balanced development of language competence and even with various of so-called "key competences" in learning English, it had found out that the class works conducted were still heavily focused on constructs that are tested during school-exit exams and also neglects some civic competences like group work as well as digital skills. In fact, exam-based learning, text-book based learning together with chalk and talk method are no longer suitable in this era of education 4.0. Instead, the concept of heutagogy, peeragogy and cybergogy are the main key concepts shaping 21st century learning. Thus, PenPal Schools is one of the free websites that seemed to fulfill the key concepts of education 4.0 and respond to the need of 4th industrial Revolution. In fact, this type of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is seemed to be more and more prevalent (Yunus et al., 2013;Yunus, Salehi, & Amini, 2016). We would further look into how education is transformed from 2.0 to 4.0 in the following section.

Pen
Pal, E-Penpal to PenPal Schools: Education 2.0, Education 3.0 to Education 4.0 Earlier days, we have pen pals in which we regularly write and exchange letters with people we do not meet via postal mail. In fact, writing to a pen pal is one of the ways to improve English writing skills and allow teachers to have a closer look at language exchanges via a meaningful writing experience (Burk, 1989) However, if the future educators still opt for traditional type of pen pal projects, it is believed some students will feel reluctant as we must understand that most of them are generation z and even alpha who are claimed to be computer literate.
Education 2.0 was not suitable to suit their needs as it only allows interaction between teacher and student, student and content or among students (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008). Therefore, we could realise the trend has moved from conventional pen pal projects to E-penpal in which learners use email through the internet to communicate with others. This shows a shift from education 2.0 to education 3.0. Figure 1 illustrates the evolvement from Education 2.0 to Education 4.0. Leapfrogging principles and context, the education in the era responding to the agrarian society is known as Education 1.0, industrial society is to be linked to Education 2.0, globalization is referred to Education 3.0 while innovation is inter-related to Education 4.0 (Austin & Harkins, 2008). In education 3.0, it emphasized on heutagogical, a more connectivist approach to learning and teaching.
It is socially constructed and contextually reinvented (Gerstein, 2014). Gerstein (2014) also stated that in the era of education 3.0, technology is everywhere and teaching can be done from various sources, be it the teachers, learners, social networks and media etc. So, the use of email in E-penpal project has helped to create a unique entity that has the potential to suit the needs of individuals and societal as well. In short, education 3.0 has helped to make the learning unique, personalized as well as helping learners to be self-determined (Gerstein, 2014). visualization. In PenPal Schools, the learners can work anytime when they are free and they will get pen pals all around the world upon completing the tasks given before the matching day. Visualisation of the look of their pen pals arouses the learners' interest and therefore it could help to optimise their learning.
Furthermore, this penpal schools learning management has helped in developing the learner's ability to apply the new technology, which will therefore help DOI: 10.4236/ce.2018.915188 2496 Creative Education the learners to develop according to the changes in the society. Since the learners need to complete an online collaborative project with peers around the world, they need to be flexible. Puncreobutr (2016) also stated that the learning management in this era of education 4.0 is a new learning system. It allows the learners to grow with knowledge as well as skills for the whole life and not just merely to know how to read and write. Penpal schools provides this type of learning environment in which it helps to train the learners to be able to live in a society, to communicate with other people around the world, to create a sense of community inside and outside of the classroom as well as to equip themselves with their best ability to complete the tasks. Therefore, education 4.0 is an era more than just an education using the internet. The next section would discuss about the overview of the research methodology

Research Methodology (Overview)
This study used mixed method design in which the researcher collected both naire were adopted and modified from UTAUT model that was proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2003). Some changes were made which is to meet the purpose of this study and to fit the current condition of the subjects.

Research Procedures
30 students were selected as the participants for this study. After the school-based March 2018 writing test, they were required to join PenPal Schools and take part in the online collaborative project before the Mid Term assessment. Initially, teacher enrolled in a project and the selected participants were required to sign up for PenPal schools using the class codes given. Upon getting pen pals from other countries, the participants had to complete a few tasks given, the more active they were, the more pen pals point they would get and eventually it would help them to meet pen pals that were as active as them. On the matching days, the learners were required to complete an online collaborative project together with the peers from other countries within the time constraint given for the respective project (1 week). After that, the teacher would evaluate the students'

Data Collection and Data Analysis
The main data collected was the participants' writing results in both March 2018 and May 2018 School based writing assessment. Comparison was made and this was to check whether any improvement on the writing results occurs. Then, a survey form based on UTAUT model was created and all participants were required to complete the survey form online at https://polldaddy.com. The data from the questionnaires were statically analysed using frequency counts and percentage distribution. A semi-structured interview with the participants was being carried out to check out the potential of using PenPal Schools in ESL writing classroom. All names reported were pseudonyms. The next unit would further elaborate on the findings and discussions.

Findings and Discussions
The findings would be discussed based on three main sections, which are the

Comparison of Results between March 2018 and May 2018 School Based Writing Assessment
Based on the result in Table 1, it has found out that there is an improvement in their writing results. The number of students who score A and B have increased by 3 and by 5 respectively while the number of students who scored C and D both have reduced by 4. Though the improvement is not tremendous, yet we must understand that there is no short cut to master the language in one month.
It takes time and practice makes perfect.

Survey Results
As mentioned in the earlier section, the investigation into the potential of using

1) Perception towards PenPal Schools
Based on the result in Table 3, the findings indicated that the respondents had exhibited positive attitudes towards PenPal School as 22 participants (73.33%) agreed that PenPal Schools is very interesting, in addition, 18 participants (60%) strongly agree that PenPal Schools is more fun than the traditional writing classroom. Data also showed that majority (>50%) of the respondents like watching the videos and reading the articles in PenPal Schools. This positive attitude towards PenPal Schools reveals that this online learning community is potential to be embedded as one of the options for a writing lesson. However, there is one participant who had found PenPal Schools not interesting. It is essential for this study to further elaborate on the reasons.

2) Effort Expectancy
Effort Expectancy is correlated to the degree of ease to use the proposed system or approach. So, based on the findings in Table 4, it can be concluded that PenPal Schools is easy to use and the instructions are clear and can be understood among young ESL learner. None of them (0%) who perceived as being difficult to use.

3) Performance Expectancy
In term of teaching and learning, performance expectancy is the most impor-

4) Facilitating Condition
Life in the new millennium seems to be jet set fast. Based on the findings in Table 6, it had found out that majority of the participants do not face any technology related problems when they use PenPal Schools. 28 out of 30 participants (93.33%) have resources that could help them to go online while there is only one participant (3.33%) who faced problem in doing the task. Aids are available with 15 of them strongly agree, 8 of them agree and 7 have neutral attitude towards it.

5) Behavioural intention to use PenPal Schools
Based on the result in Table 7, it reveals that PenPal Schools is an interesting virtual classroom that had attracted young ESL learners as 19 participants (63.33%) strongly agree that they will continue to use PenPal Schools while another 6 of them (20%) agree with it as well. For the 5 participants who are unsure, it would be the educator's role to motivate them to use as social influence is another vital construct in UTAUT model.

Learner Responses towards the Use of PenPal Schools
It is undeniable that writing is most students would perceive writing skill as the hardest if compared to listening, reading and speaking. Many issues like first language interference, less supportive classroom climate, failure in seeing the value of the learning content, lack of vocabulary to write and lack of authenticity in the writing task conducted are the main problems that Malaysian ESL learners faced. So, based on the responses from the semi-structured interviews, there are two main strengths to this Pen Pal Schools project. Firstly, this project has embedded a purposive writing element in it. The students were found out to write in their full effort as they knew that they were sending it to a real person. Quoted from one of the respondents, Chee Ken, "It is a website that I can make contact with others and learn English at the same time". "Yes, I do. I found that there are a lot of interesting and good things and I can spend a lot of time with my pen pals and get our friendship closer." Since the learners have a purpose in writing. It had found out to give the students a great positive stimulation where it triggers the students' desire to improve their writing skills as well as to learn more vocabulary. Therefore, we know that active learning had taken place automatically and is not by force.
PuiTeng pointed out that: "Yes, at first I can't understand all the words there and now I know the meaning very well. Yes, I can write more now." Besides that, this PenPal schools project also provides the learners real world exploration. They were writing to authentic audience, in addition, some of them are native speakers. It fulfils the 21st century classroom concept as the classroom environment is not rigid and the lesson was being carried out outside the classroom. The students had high motivation to write. It has even reduced their an-xiety towards writing. Yen specifically stated that: "Yes, I am having a good time using PenPal Schools and I can make friends around the world, which I actually never got a chance to do that before this." The next section would conclude this paper and further discuss the implications towards teaching and learning in the ESL classroom.

Conclusion and Implication
This paper aimed to describe the potential of using PenPal Schools' learning community to improve students' writing. Overall, learning to write by involving oneself in an online collaboration project with pen pals around the world is an awesome experience. So, utilising an authentic material together with native speakers in a virtual ESL classroom is really a fun and engaging learning experience. PenPal School is indeed a dynamic tool that enables students to create a sense of community inside and outside the classroom. It is one of the great alternatives for students to practise writing using the language they learn and also promote intercultural communication with learners around the world. Moreover, this project had generated a lot of excitement as they were engaged in authentic language exchanges with authentic audience and particularly some of them were native speakers. Thus, this authentic material is recommended and it is indeed very useful in our teaching and learning process.
Although the present study suggests that the PenPal School is beneficial to the pupils, there are still some other areas that need to be further studied. It is wise for future research to have a larger sample and involve students from all over Malaysia, especially the rural areas. Since there are listening texts and reading texts in PenPal School, it would be great to further study on its effects towards the listening and reading skills among ESL learners. Then, since speaking skill is hardly practiced using this, it would be best if future research could discuss on the challenges and of course ways to overcome this shortcoming.
In conclusion, using an authentic online material like PenPal Schools had successfully created a ripple in the field of language learning. From this study, aspects of PenPal Schools are found out to be very potential in promoting active and effective learning. In addition, all materials in PenPal Schools are aligned to Common Core, TEKS, and IB standard which are aimed to ensure positive learning outcomes. Since the quality of writing had improved tremendously, it is time for all the educators to embrace this authentic material and help our students to develop language skills outside the classroom.

Implications for Teaching and Learning
From the study above, utilizing an authentic online material like PenPal Schools in the ESL classroom had shown that the quality of students' writing had improved. The engagement for learners all around the world in a dynamic and collaborative virtual classroom like PenPal Schools is indeed positive. In addition, it fulfills the aspects in the learning pyramid and students are learning in a virtual W. W. Lie, M. M. Yunus classroom with authentic audience which is about the same age as them. In term of impact towards the educators, it is believed that the use of PenPal Schools could rediscover some basic approaches in ways of teaching writing that had been neglected for some time. It is also undeniable that writing tasks that deal with meaningful, engaging and real life situations are indeed better than conventional, artificial as well as decontextualised exercises.
Priority should be set by teachers after they have weighed out the pros and cons if or when using this educational tool. If teachers could allocate more time to conduct this type of activity, this will surely breathe a new life in the Malaysian ESL writing classrooms. Learning starts with engagement. It is hoped that this type of global project-based learning could help to shed new light on the era of 4.0 education.