


































Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 7, No. 3, 2024 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

41 

 

Original Paper 

Research on Promoting the Spirit of Scientists among Normal 

University Students under the Background of New Liberal 

Arts—A Case Study of Educational Technology  

Sun Yue
1
 

1
 Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China 

 

Received: September 11, 2024   Accepted: September 19, 2024  Online Published: October 16, 2024 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v7n3p41                     URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v7n3p41 

 

Abstract 

The spirit of scientists is the precious spiritual wealth accumulated by scientific and technological 

workers in the long-term scientific practice, and it is an important driving force to promote national 

development and progress. Normal university students are the promising youth who forge ahead and 

also are the future educators, who are responsible for the inheritance and dissemination of knowledge 

and spiritual civilization. Only by cultivating the spirit of scientists can normal university students 

promote the spirit of scientists better, which is profit for the younger generation to cultivate patriotic 

feelings and strengthen patriotic belief. It is also profit for cultivating the innovative and practical 

consciousness and gathering strength of enriching the people and strengthening the country. Moreover, 

it is profit for stimulating the spirit of dedication and coordination of the students, gathering strength 

for realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. Only in this way can the spiritual connotation 

of scientists be sown more deeply and widely in people’s hearts. The new liberal arts initiates that 

colleges and universities should break barriers between disciplines, deepen interdisciplinary 

integration, and integrate into modern educational technology. Normal colleges and universities 

should strengthen science education, improve the scientific literacy of normal university students 

constantly, promote the spirit of scientists throughout the whole process of education. They can break 

barriers between disciplines in the context of new liberal arts, so that normal university students 

establish ideals and beliefs, strengthen their convictions, and promote the spirit of scientists better. 

Educational technology, as a normal major, is an emerging discipline that integrates contemporary 

educational science and information technology science. It contains both theory and technology and 

aims to improve learners’ information technology literacy and scientific literacy. Advanced 

information technology is not only an important factor to promote the further development of 



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humanities and social sciences, but also an important tool of spreading the spirit of scientists. Similarly, 

the development of educational technology disciplines requires the support of the new liberal arts to 

avoid falling into the misunderstandings of technology-only theory and application-only theory. This 

paper takes educational technology, which is a typical interdisciplinary subject of arts and sciences, as 

an example to explore the path of integrating the spirit of scientists into normal university students’ 

spiritual blood under the background of new liberal arts. 

Keywords 

new liberal arts, spirit of scientist, educational technology, interdisciplinary integration  

 

1. Introduction 

Since the Ministry of Education proposed to comprehensively promote the “Four News” construction 

of new engineering, new medicine, new agriculture, and new liberal arts in 2018, the new liberal arts 

has immediately attracted great attention from the educational and academic circles. On April 29, 2019, 

the “Six Excellences and One Top-notch” Plan 2.0 marked that the construction of new liberal arts and 

others entered into the policy implementation stage officially. The new liberal arts provides learners 

with comprehensive interdisciplinary learning. It has the general characteristics of humanities and 

social sciences, and at the same time shows some new characteristics, such as cross-integration and 

support of new technologies. Promoting the spirit of scientists needs to depend on the new liberal arts. 

Because it contains both humanities, social science and technology, besides the formation of science 

cannot be separated from two major traditions, namely the tradition of scholars and the tradition of 

craftsmen. In the context of the new liberal arts, it is more conducive to promote and cultivate the spirit 

of scientists, stimulate the innovative vitality of all kinds of talents, and integrate the spirit of scientists 

into the spiritual blood of normal university students. Only in this way can we build a global talent 

highland more effectively. Through the construction of new liberal arts, we can fertilize the soil of 

innovative culture and cultivate a new generation of people in the times who is full of the spirit of 

scientists. 

There is no doubt that under the background of new liberal arts, normal university students of 

educational technology major could promote the spirit of scientists better. The concept of realizing the 

connotative development of higher education was put forward in the 19th National Congress of the 

Communist Party of China. As a practical application-oriented discipline major in China, the 

understanding and development of educational technology require a dual vision of “discipline” and 

“interdisciplinarity”. The train objective of educational technology major, which is a second-level 

discipline of pedagogy, consists of the cultivation of scientific literacy, technical literacy, and related 

spiritual connotations. Therefore, taking educational technology major as an example, it is more typical 

to explore the path for normal university students to carry forward the spirit of scientists in the context 

of new liberal arts. 



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2. Literature Review 

Zhou Zongwei (1999) proposed that we should not only advocate technological innovation and pursue 

efficient modern education, but also pursue high-quality education which integrates humanistic 

thoughts, promotes each other, develops jointly, and reflects wisdom. We should also ensure the 

healthy development of education, embody the humanistic spirit and attach importance to humanistic 

care in educational thoughts. Otherwise, we need to promote efficient and high-quality teaching by 

integrating modern technological means actively, and make educational technology and humanities 

integrated, so as to achieve a balanced development of science, technology and humanities. The report 

of the Party’s 20th National Congress clearly pointed out that education, science and technology, and 

human resources are the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all 

respects. We will continue to give high priority to the development of education, build China’s 

self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and rely on talent to pioneer and to propel 

development. We will speed up work to build a strong educational system, greater scientific and 

technological strength, and a quality workforce. We will continue efforts to cultivate talents for the 

Party and the country and comprehensively improve our ability to nurture talents at home. All this will 

see us producing first-class innovators. Liu Tiatian and Li Peiqin (2024) mentioned that the 

construction of a powerful country and talents training cannot be separated from spiritual support. The 

spirit of scientist is a valuable spiritual wealth formed by the majority of scientific and technological 

workers in the long-term scientific practice, which can encourage college students of new era to have 

confidence, determination and will to climb the scientific peak. Ding Yi (2024) believes that the spirit 

of scientist is the organic unity of scientific spirit and humanistic spirit.  

Through the review of the academic history, it is not difficult to see that scholars have done a lot of 

researches on various dimensions of the new liberal arts, scientist spirit, and educational technology. 

However, under the background of the new liberal arts, there are few researches on promoting the spirit 

of scientist, especially those based on interdisciplinary research are relatively scarce. This paper 

attempts to take the new liberal arts as background, aiming mainly at promoting the spirit of scientists, 

by relying on the typical comprehensive discipline-educational technology as an example, to explore an 

effective path for normal university students to carry forward the spirit of scientists by using 

interdiscipline. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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3. The Purpose and Significance of Cultivating the Spirit of Scientist among Normal University 

Students 

In all historical periods of revolution, construction and reform, the Communist Party of China has 

always attached great importance to scientific and technological undertakings, focused on 

implementing the workforce development strategy, and created a good ecological environment for 

talents innovation. In May 2019, the Opinions on Further Promoting the Spirit of Scientists and 

Strengthening the Construction of Work Style and Study Style, issued by the Party Central Committee, 

demands to carry forward the spirit of scientists. The spirit of scientists, with “patriotism, innovation, 

truth-seeking, dedication, coordination and education” as its core, is the common wealth of the whole 

society. The connotation of the spirit of scientists embodies the Chinese strength and Chinese value, 

and supports the long-term development of China’s scientific and technological undertakings as our 

spiritual wealth and strength. Promoting the spirit of scientists among normal university students is of 

great practical significance for carrying out the innovation-driven development strategy, implementing 

the fundamental task of moral education in colleges and universities, and training top-notch innovative 

talents to deal with the challenges from great power. 

 

 

Figure 1. Scientist Spirit 

 

3.1 Promoting the Spirit of Scientists among Normal University Students Is the Fundamental 

Requirement for the Realization of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation. 

“The spirit of scientists is a valuable spiritual wealth accumulated by scientific and technological 

workers in long-term scientific practice”. This is an important speech made by General Secretary Xi 

Jinping at the symposium for scientists in September 2020. The Party and the state attach great 

importance to promoting and cultivating the spirit of scientists among normal university students. 

Normal university students are future teachers who undertake the mission of cultivating talents for the 

Party and the country. Only by cultivating the spirit of scientists among normal university students can 

we promote it further, which is the fundamental requirement for the realization of the great 

rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 

 



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3.2 Promoting the Spirit of Scientists among Normal University Students Is an Effective Path to 

Implement Moral Education 

Promoting the spirit of scientists among normal university students is the Party’s educational policy, an 

effective path to implement the fundamental task of moral education, and an important means to 

promote the development of education connotation of normal university students in the new era. The 

training goal of normal university students is closely connected with moral education. Teaching and 

educating people is the mission of normal university students who need to constantly cultivate talents 

for motherland. The scientist spirit covers patriotism, innovation, truth-seeking, dedication, 

collaboration and education. Integrating the systematic and profound spirit of scientists into the 

cultivation of normal school students can provide theoretical support and practical reference for the 

continuous and healthy promotion of education work and implement the fundamental task of moral 

education better. 

3.3 Promoting the Spirit of Scientists among Normal University Students Is an Important Part of 

Ideological and Political Education 

As a value and code of conduct, scientist spirit is an important content and method for implementing 

ideological and political education. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation must rely on the 

development of advanced productive forces which is produced by science and technology. Integrating 

the spirit of scientists into the ideological and political education of normal school students is 

conducive to cultivating students’ spiritual outlook of scaling great heights and forging ahead, 

strengthening their ideals and beliefs. Integrating the scientist spirit into the ideological and political 

education of normal university students is conducive to cultivating students’ spirit of climbing the peak 

and forging ahead, firm ideals and beliefs, filling the gaps in the scientific field with practical actions, 

and delivering talents with firm beliefs, professional skills and practical ability for the development of 

advanced productive forces in modern society. 

3.4 Promoting the Spirit of Scientists among Normal University Students Is an Important Embodiment 

of Socialist Core Values 

The socialist core values are the core, the highly condensed and concentrated expression of the socialist 

core value system. We should cultivate and practice the core socialist values. Focusing on cultivating a 

new generation of people in the new era who are capable of shouldering the great task of national 

rejuvenation, we should strengthen educational guidance, practice cultivation, and institutional 

guarantees. We should integrate the core socialist values into all aspects of social development by 

producing its effect of national education, the creation of spiritual civilization, and the creation, 

production and dissemination of spiritual and cultural products, thus turn it to people’s emotional 

identity and behavior habits. The patriotism, dedication, truth-seeking, collaboration, innovation and 

education of scientists spirit are also important manifestations of socialist core values. Promoting the 

spirit of scientists among normal university students, in other words, is practice of the core socialist 



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values. 

 

4. The Paths and Methods 

The key of educational technology is education and technology. As a secondary discipline of pedagogy, 

educational technology takes technology as a tool and has a unique theoretical knowledge system in the 

cultivation of professional talents. It is an interdiscipline which studies educational technology 

phenomena and their rules. In recent years, with the launch of the “Education Informatization 2.0 

Action Plan” and the deep impact of emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence 

on educational practice and innovation, new changes have been promoted in the training direction of 

educational technology talents. On the one hand, we pay attention to training the theoretical research 

level of disciplinary talents under the guidance of new media, new technology, new ideas and new 

method. On the other hand, we pay attention to training the practical innovation ability of disciplinary 

talents. The development and talents training of education technology should be in keep with the goal 

of the construction of new liberal arts. Meanwhile, relying on advanced means of science and 

technology and information technology, education technology focuses on the cultivation of the 

scientists spirit of normal university students. Therefore, taking education technology major as an 

example, this paper explores the paths and methods of promoting the scientist spirit of normal 

university students from multiple dimensions. 

4.1 A Triple Integrated Model of Constructing Humanistic Consciousness, Strengthening Practical 

Application and Strengthening Spiritual Construction 

The integration of technology and education is an important part of the construction of new liberal arts. 

The goal of cultivation of education technology students in normal universities is adhered to moral 

education, devote to cultivate talents who serves for the cause of socialist modernization and promote 

the development of education. Therefore, the spirit of scientist among normal university students 

should be promoted from three dimensions—humanistic consciousness, technical practice and spiritual 

connotation, to build a triple overlapping mode and deeply root the scientist spirit in an all-round way. 

4.2 Innovating Educational Methods 

To promote the spirit of scientists among normal university students, we should focus on innovating 

theoretical education methods, deepening their understanding of the main connotation of the scientists 

spirit, and consolidating the theoretical basis for integrating the spirit of scientists into the education of 

normal university students. Teaching design, which is the core course of educational technology major, 

can find a breakthrough point for promoting the spirit of scientists among normal university students, 

select the teaching content carefully, and integrate the teaching content better. Through teaching media 

and scientific teaching methods, we can transmit the knowledge point of the scientists spirit, enhance 

its emotional identification, and promote it better. 

 



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4.3 Establishing Multiple Evaluation Mechanisms 

To promote the integration of the scientist spirit into the training of normal university students, it is 

necessary to establish a multiple evaluation mechanism, of which the evaluation should integrate the 

spiritual characteristics of the scientist spirit. The evaluation of promoting the spirit of scientists among 

normal university students directly affects the results the integration of the spirit of scientists into 

students. Education technology pays attention to the exploration and implementation of evaluation 

mechanism. Therefore, we can establish multiple evaluation mechanisms, fully integrate process 

evaluation and summative evaluation, formulate targeted evaluation scale, and examine from multiple 

dimensions such as summary, practice, theory and application. Thus, it will be helpful for forming an 

effective evaluation mechanism and even incentive mechanism, guiding normal university students to 

cultivate and promote the spirit of scientists deeply. 

4.4 Using Information Technology Means to Open Up the Education Position for Normal University 

Students to Promote the Spirit of Scientists 

The extensive use of information technology has become an important factor to promote the further 

development of humanities and social sciences. Educational technology, which is based on information 

technology, makes full use of the progress of modern science and technology to promote the 

development of itself and the modernization of education. It is a necessary way to carry forward the 

spirit of scientists by using information technology means to create an educational position in line with 

the characteristics of contemporary normal university students. 

 

5. Result 

The spirit of scientists is the crystallization which is formed in the growth of several generations of 

scientists and the practice of scientific and technological development of China, and is a concentrated 

reflection of Chinese excellent traditional culture and the spirit of the era of reform and opening up. 

Carrying forward the scientist spirit is an important way for promote colleges and universities’ moral 

education, cultivate contemporary talents, adapt to the development of the new era and the all-round 

development of young people. It will be helpful for promoting the development of science and 

technology in our country, advancing the country’s modernization process, and cultivate new people of 

the times for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In the context of the new liberal arts, it is of 

great significance and era connotation for normal school to promote the inheritance and development of 

the spirit of scientists and cultivate new people of the times with the spirit of scientists. Only by 

building the triple fusion mode of constructing humanistic consciousness, strengthening practical 

application and strengthening spiritual construction, innovating educational methods, establishing 

multiple evaluation mechanisms, and using information technology means to open up the education 

position, can we better promote the spirit of scientists among normal university students under the 

background of new liberal arts. 



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Acknowledgments 

We acknowledge the support of our various colleagues of the college of education, for their grateful 

comments and insights in improving the paper. This research work was supported by The tenth batch of 

teaching research project of Inner Mongolia Normal University “Research on Promoting the Spirit of 

Scientists among Normal University Students under the Background of New Liberal Arts—A Case 

Study of Educational Technology” (Grant No2023sxjszx23906).  

 

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