Development of cross-cutting skills by applying active methodologies in technical education students

Abstract

This study critically reviews recent evidence on the development of cross-cutting skills in technical education students through active methodologies, addressing the gap between the discourse on skills and their effective implementation. A literature review (2015–2025) was conducted in indexed databases, with predefined eligibility criteria, independent screening by two reviewers (estimated agreement), standardized extraction, quality assessment, and narrative synthesis with light quantitative elements. The findings indicate that project- and problem-based learning, the flipped classroom, and teamwork consistently improve collaboration, communication, and self-regulation when authentic tasks are designed, rubrics with explicit criteria are used, and feedback is sustained. The effects on critical thinking and problem solving are more contingent and depend on constructive alignment, task complexity, metacognitive scaffolding, and the duration of interventions. It is concluded that coherence between learning outcomes, activities, and assessment—reinforced by co-design with students and performance-focused assessment ecosystems—is a condition for sustainable impacts; rubrics and performance evidence should prevail over self-reports for valid inferences, while programmatic evaluation provides traceability and more defensible collegial decisions.