Developing Transferable Skills: Does Disciplinary Topic Matter?

Transferable skills are essential for student success beyond graduation, yet they are not often explicitly taught or assessed in postsecondary education. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 50-minute workshop designed to explicitly teach scientific inquiry as a transferable skill to first-year undergraduate students in a biodiversity course. The workshop, delivered in either a biology-specific or general context, emphasized active, experiential learning.A mixed-methods post-workshop survey assessed student perceptions through Likert-scale items, open-ended responses, and knowledge-based questions. Students in both contexts reported high satisfaction, perceived the workshop as beneficial for their skill development, and recognized the relevance of scientific inquiry beyond the course. Students in the general-context workshop outperformed those in the biology-context on knowledge-based questions, suggesting general contexts may better support initial understanding through relatable examples. However, more biology-context students agreed that the skill learned is applicable beyond formal education. Students identified peer collaboration as a strength but noted challenges with the virtual format—particularly Zoom breakout rooms—highlighting the importance of thoughtful online learning design. This research contributes to ongoing discussions about how best to teach transferable skills in higher education. We recommend introducing these skills early in general contexts, then reinforcing them across disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses, with explicit integration into learning outcomes and assessments. These findings offer practical guidance for designing inclusive and intentional skill development in undergraduate education. The research presented here explores the topic at a single point in time – an undergraduate student’s first year of higher education. Further research is needed to examine how students’ perceptions of skill development in different instructional contexts evolve across stages of their academic careers.