Abstracts - Earli

teaching and learning and yet there has been little research to date that has examined theimportance of disciplinary epistemology in shaping generic skills. The study reported in this paperbrings together these two strands of the literature. The findings of this study demonstrate thatgeneric attributes are highly context-dependent and are shaped by the disciplinary epistemology inwhich they are conceptualised and taught. This study examined the teaching of generic skills infive disciplines, physics, history, economics, medicine and law in two Australian universities. Thedata is in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a total of 37 academic staff. It found that skillssuch as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving and communication are conceptualised andtaught in quite different ways in each of the disciplines. This paper suggests that a de-disciplinedapproach to generic skills has led to shortcomings in the areas of educational policy and teachingpractice. Instead it proposes a re-disciplined theorising of generic skills, which frames them as partof the social practice of the disciplines and so understood as in and of the disciplinary culture.C 1629 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 7.59SymposiumScience and mathematics education as enculturationChair: Wim Jochems, Eindhoven School of Education, NetherlandsOrganiser: Ruurd Taconis, Eindhoven School of Education, NetherlandsDiscussant: Jan van Driel, Leiden University, NetherlandsScience and mathematics education can be seen as a process of enculturation. From thisperspective, key-issues in science and mathematics education emerge as problems in introducingnovice students effectively into the subcultures of science and mathematics. For example: the aimsof science and mathematics education, the low participation in science education in westernindustrialised countries, the vast difficulties of many students in learning about scientific concepts,and issues concerning cultural minorities and science. A metaphor for education as enculturation isthat of ‘crossing a bridge that spans a river separating two countries’. Education is to provide asafe and practicable route for learners to travel from their own country (cultural background) intoscience&mathematics-country. They may decide to turn back or to stay in science-country morepermanently. In that case, the learner’s identity will be enriched in a constructive response to theculture of science and mathematics. Participation appears to play a key role in enculturation. Theacquired knowledge and skills will be personally embedded and intertwined with cultural elementssuch as: language, assumptions, values, epistemology and social and communicative codes. On thelevel of the individual, various problems can occur that may hinder learners to enculturate. Someof these problems are related to the cultural background of the learner. Individuals differ and arepart of different sub-cultures each of which may comprise elements contradicting science ormathematics culture. Other problems seem primarily related to the culture of science ormathematics itself which appears to hold contradicting elements. Such problems partly overlapwith problems arising from the educational system and the way it represents science andmathematics. The contributions in this symposium focus on these three kind of problems andexplore the relevance and advantages of the enculturation perspective.– 161 –