Assessing Student Desire for Professional Skills Development Within the Undergraduate Science Curriculum: a Focus on Teamwork

Professional skill development has emerged as an increasingly important facet of undergraduate training, specifically within science curricula. The primarily agreed on professional skills for a well-rounded scientist include teamwork, oral communication, written communication, and quantitative skills. The demand for these skills has been driven by employers and graduate/professional schools. To this end, instructors in higher education have begun to integrate professional skill development into their course design and student learning goals. However, the attitudes of students themselves toward the importance of different professional skills, the inclusion of these skills in their coursework, level of improvement, and end confidence has yet to be thoroughly characterized. It was the aim of this study to ascertain students’ desire for the aforementioned professional skills within their undergraduate science programs by exploring student perceptions of professional skills inclusion, importance, improvement, and confidence and identify the local courses students recognize as utilizing “teamwork activities.” Here we detail these attitudes in biomedical science undergraduates at Michigan State University. By using the Science Student Skills Inventory (SSSI), a previously validated assessment tool, we observed differences in student perceptions of professional skills when compared to previous SSSI studies. We also observed significant differences in attitudes between age groups in respect to writing and communication skills, differing perceptions of what constitutes teamwork, as well as gender differences in respect to attitudes around communication and ethical thinking skills. Our results give valuable insight into student perspectives on how professional skills are developed in their program. These data may be used to inform curriculum development within and across institutions.