HRMARS - The development of transferable skills remains a persistent challenge in chemistry education, particularly in pre-university contexts characterised by examination-oriented instruction and procedural laboratory practices. While Project-Based Learning (PjBL) is widely adopted to promote authentic inquiry, evidence suggests that it does not consistently foster higher-order competencies without structured cognitive support. This study explores how Design Thinking–infused Project-Based Learning (DT–PjBL) supports the enactment of transferable skills as epistemic practices in pre-university chemistry learning. Adopting a qualitative, exploratory, multiple-case study design, the research involved 11 students organised into four groups who engaged in electrochemistry-based tasks over a 24-week intervention. Data were collected through classroom observations and document analysis. A theoretically informed analytic rubric was used as a heuristic to examine six dimensions of transferable skills: critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, creativity, and decision-making. Data were analysed using deductive coding, within-case analysis, and cross-case synthesis. Findings indicate observable shifts in how students enacted transferable skills, particularly in collaborative problem-solving, the justification of design decisions, and the development of creative solutions within DT–PjBL contexts. Rather than functioning as discrete outcomes, transferable skills emerged as situated epistemic practices shaped by iterative design processes. However, the absence of a comparison condition limits causal interpretation.
Ramasundram et al. (Fri,) studied this question.