


































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

Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

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

 

48 

 

 

Original Paper 

Reform of Structural Mechanics Course Oriented by 

Engineering Practice and Integrated with Interesting Mechanics 

Experiments 

Qun Liu
1
, Zheng Wang

1
, Shuo Li

1*
, Qingchi Zhang

1
 & Huaken Zhang

1
 

1
 Qingdao City University, Qingdao 266106, China 

*
 Shuo Li, Qingdao City University, Qingdao 266106, China 

 

Received: May 20, 2025         Accepted: May 27, 2025        Online Published: May 30, 2025 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v8n2p48                URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v8n2p48 

 

Abstract 

Under the background of engineering education accreditation and the development of new engineering 

disciplines, traditional structural mechanics courses are confronted with problems such as the 

disconnection between theory and practice, a monotonous teaching mode, and low student engagement. 

This study proposes a reform framework for structural mechanics courses that integrates interesting 

mechanics experiments. By Reconstructing teaching content, innovating teaching methods, and 

optimizing the evaluation system, a “theory-practice-political ideology” teaching model is constructed, 

providing strong support for better cultivating applied talents. 

Keywords 

structural mechanics, engineering practice, interesting mechanics experiment, curriculum reform, OBE 

concept 

 

1. Introduction 

1.1 Research Background 

With the advancement of the construction of new engineering disciplines and the implementation of 

engineering education accreditation, higher engineering education is facing a paradigm transformation 

from “knowledge imparting” to “ability cultivation”. Structural mechanics, as a core basic course for 

civil engineering, intelligent construction and other majors, plays a “bridging” role in connecting 

theoretical mechanics, material mechanics and subsequent professional courses such as the design 

principles of steel structures. Its teaching effect is directly related to the cultivation of students’ ability 



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to solve complex engineering problems. 

However, the traditional teaching mode has problems such as the disconnection between theory and 

practice, insufficient classroom interaction, and low students’ learning motivation. Although some 

universities have attempted to carry out teaching reforms through multimedia teaching or case 

introduction, it is still difficult to break through the predicament of low students’ classroom 

participation and weak knowledge transfer ability. This contradiction has become increasingly 

prominent under the background that engineering education emphasizes practicality and innovation, 

and it is urgent to explore new teaching paths through systematic curriculum reform. 

1.2 Research Significance 

This study proposes a framework for the curriculum reform of structural mechanics integrating 

interesting mechanics experiments. Its significance is reflected in the following three aspects. 

By introducing engineering cases and applying PKPM engineering design software to drive teaching, 

students’ ability to apply mechanics theories to practical problems is strengthened, which is in line with 

the core requirement of “outcome-oriented” under the OBE concept.  

The integration of interesting mechanics experiments can stimulate learning interest through life-like 

scenarios, break the deadlock of “one-way indoctrination” in traditional classrooms, and enable 

students to truly experience the principles of mechanics through hands-on and brain-stimulating 

activities. At the same time, it can enhance the team’s innovative awareness through group 

collaboration.  

By combining ancient architectural wisdom with modern engineering achievements, a library of 

ideological and political elements is constructed. Engineering ethics and social responsibility are 

integrated into professional education to achieve an organic unity of knowledge imparting and value 

guidance. 

This research not only provides an operational practical path for the curriculum reform of structural 

mechanics, but also lays a theoretical foundation for the collaborative innovation of interdisciplinary 

courses under the background of new engineering, which has important academic value and 

significance for the promotion of engineering education. 

 

2. Analysis of Problems in Traditional Structural Mechanics Teaching 

2.1 Summary of Teaching Pain Points 

Structural mechanics, as a theoretical course supporting the major, is closely related to engineering 

practice. Its core objective lies in cultivating students’ ability to solve practical engineering problems 

by applying the principles of mechanics. However, in the current teaching, there is a widespread 

tendency of “emphasizing theoretical derivation while neglecting practical application”. For instance, 

although students can proficiently calculate the bending moment and shear force of statically and 



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precisely structured structures, when it comes to the design of complex structural models, they often 

have no idea where to start and find it difficult to transform abstract formulas into engineering design 

logic. 

Traditional classrooms mostly adopt the linear model of “teacher lecturing-students listening and taking 

notes”. Even though teaching reforms have been carried out, “teacher lecturing” still occupies the vast 

majority of class time, and there is a lack of teaching interactivity and innovation. The teaching method 

mainly based on “blackboard derivation + example problem explanation” is difficult to stimulate 

students’ awareness of active exploration. Studies show that one-way indoctrination  

Structural mechanics requires theoretical mechanics and material mechanics as the prerequisite 

foundations. However, among the student group, it is inevitable that there is a phenomenon of not 

firmly grasping the prerequisite knowledge. Some students are unable to proficiently draw the force 

analysis diagram of the structure or establish the equilibrium equation, which hinders the subsequent 

learning of the internal force analysis module of the structure. This fundamental difference further 

exacerbates the imbalance between teaching progress and effect. 

At present, ideological and political elements in teaching are mostly limited to the mention of scattered 

cases, lacking systematic design and in-depth integration. The separation of value guidance and 

professional education makes it difficult for students to form a profound understanding of engineering 

ethics and social responsibility, and there is a gap with the educational goal of “cultivating virtue and 

nurturing talent”. 

2.2 Root Cause of the Problem 

The traditional teaching mode is teacher-centered, and students have become passive recipients. This 

concept ignores the differences in individual learning needs and inhibits the cultivation of critical 

thinking and innovation abilities. The assessment overly relies on closed-book written tests and fails to 

reflect the teamwork and problem-solving abilities required in engineering practice. 

With the rapid development of emerging fields such as intelligent construction and green buildings, the 

update speed of the content of structural mechanics courses lags significantly. The textbooks still 

mainly focus on classic structural analysis, and rarely cover cutting-edge technologies such as 

structural health monitoring. Furthermore, the teaching evaluation system fails to align with the 

assessment requirements for “the ability to solve complex engineering problems” in engineering 

education accreditation, resulting in a disconnection between talent cultivation and industry demands. 

There is a lack of organic connection of the knowledge system between structural mechanics and the 

prerequisite courses as well as the subsequent courses. The correlation between “force analysis of 

objects” in theoretical mechanics and “solving internal forces of structures by section method” in 

structural mechanics has not been made explicit, making it difficult for students to construct a 

systematic cognitive framework of mechanics. 



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3. The Core Concept of the Curriculum Reform of Structural Mechanics 

3.1 Student-centered 

The inertial thinking of “teachers dominating the classroom” in the traditional teaching mode urgently 

needs to be broken through. This research adopts the concept of “student-centered”, emphasizing the 

reconstruction of the teaching process through the intelligent empowerment of knowledge graphs and 

autonomous inquiry-based learning. 

Based on the learning theory, the knowledge points of structural mechanics are visually presented by 

using knowledge graph technology to help students establish a systematic knowledge framework. 

The group cooperative learning and flipped classroom models are adopted to shift the classroom time 

from one-way lectures to problem discussions. In the teaching of internal force analysis, a situational 

task of “Failure of Bridge Bearings” is set up. The group is required to propose solutions through 

model construction and mechanical derivation, and the teacher only participates in the discussion as a 

guide. The practice of this concept not only conforms to the goal of cultivating cognitive ability, but 

also effectively alleviates the chronic problem of “scattered attention” in traditional teaching by 

enhancing the sense of classroom participation. 

3.2 Oriented towards Engineering Practice 

To bridge the gap between theory and practice, curriculum reform needs to closely align with the 

demands of engineering practice and build a teaching ecosystem that integrates learning and 

application. Select typical engineering problems as teaching carriers, and combine the case of the 

“Harbin Yangmingtan Bridge Accident” to guide students to apply the basic principles of statics to 

conduct in-depth analysis of the causes of the accident, achieving the expansion training of “mechanics 

theory-engineering practice”. 

In accordance with the standards of the College Students’ Structural Design Competition, organize the 

load-bearing design competition of truss Bridges within the course. Students are required to 

comprehensively apply knowledge such as the mechanical properties of materials, geometric structure 

analysis, and force analysis of truss structures to complete model design and loading tests, and to hone 

their abilities in structural optimization and teamwork in real engineering scenarios. This orientation 

not only strengthens students’ engineering thinking, but also promotes the transformation of knowledge 

into ability through the “learning by doing” model. 

3.3 The OBE (Outcome-based Education) Concept 

Based on the OBE concept, the curriculum reform needs to reverse design the teaching system starting 

from the learning outcome goals. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the 

ability requirements are decomposed into three levels of objectives: “Memorizing the characteristics of 

statically determinate structures-analyzing statically determinate structures-designing and optimizing 

complex systems”, and corresponding teaching activities are matched. 



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Abandon the single closed-book examination and adopt a diversified evaluation model of “process 

performance + practical achievements + comprehensive written test” to ensure that the assessment 

content is consistent with the ability requirement of “solving complex engineering problems” in 

engineering education accreditation. The implementation of this concept shifts teaching from 

“knowledge coverage” to “ability achievement”, providing quantifiable quality assurance for 

engineering education accreditation. 

 

4. Reform Strategies and Implementation Paths 

4.1 Reconstruction of Teaching Content 

In order to achieve the coordinated improvement of the knowledge system and engineering practice 

ability, the teaching content is systematically reconstructed and divided into the basic knowledge 

module, the structural system module and the computerized analysis module. Integrate the core 

concepts of theoretical mechanics and material mechanics in the basic knowledge module, and enhance 

the ability to analyze geometric structures and draw calculation diagrams. By comparing the constraint 

conditions of trusses and rigid frames, guide students to understand the engineering significance of 

“degrees of freedom” and “constraints”. 

The mechanical characteristics of different structural systems such as beams, trusses, arches, rigid 

frames and frames are analyzed hierarchically in the structural system module. For instance, in the 

teaching of “Arch Structure Analysis”, the case of catenary arch bridge is introduced. Combined with 

the derivation of differential equations and numerical simulation, students’ understanding of the 

distribution laws of axial force and bending moment is deepened. 

The PKPM application training is embedded in the computer analysis module, requiring students to use 

PKPM to complete the load combination calculation of the steel structure factory building and improve 

the structural economy through parameter optimization. 

4.2 Innovation in Teaching Methods 

Adopt a blended teaching mode combining online and offline. Relying on the Chaoxing Learning Pass 

platform online, we have developed a dual-driven online resource system of “micro-lesson videos + 

exercise banks”, creating micro-lessons such as “Force Analysis of Objects” and “Calculation of 

Internal Forces of Trusses by Node Method”. Students can watch and study at any time and self-test 

their learning effects with exercises. Teachers can prepare lessons in a targeted manner through data 

analysis in the background. 

Offline, case-based teaching is relied on. Typical engineering cases are selected as the teaching entry 

point to guide students to analyze the failure mechanism from the perspective of mechanics and 

propose solutions. 

 



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To break the dullness of traditional classrooms, this study proposes to deeply integrate life-related and 

interesting experiments into teaching and visually reveal the principles of mechanics through simple 

experiments. For instance, when explaining the balance of force, students are required to build a 

support system with matches and suspend mineral water bottles to test the load-bearing limit. Through 

the experimental data, they can infer the law of force analysis. 

4.3 Optimization of the Assessment and Evaluation System 

Change the traditional evaluation method mainly based on the final exam, strengthen the process 

assessment, and divide the assessment content into three parts: learning process evaluation, practical 

ability assessment and the final comprehensive test. The process assessment accounts for 25%, 

covering online learning activity, classroom interaction performance and phased tests. The assessment 

of practical ability accounts for 35%, including competition achievements and computerized analysis 

reports. The final comprehensive test accounts for 40% and is conducted in a “semi-open-book” format. 

Self-made knowledge cards are allowed, with a focus on assessing the comprehensive analysis ability 

of complex engineering problems. 

Real-time tracking of learning data is achieved through the Chaoxing Learning Pass smart Course 

platform, and personalized learning reports are automatically generated by AI teaching assistants. For 

students with weak mastery of certain knowledge points, targeted supplementary exercises and 

micro-lesson resources are pushed. Establish a three-level feedback channel of “teacher-teaching 

assistant-student”, and solve common problems through weekly learning salons to ensure that problems 

are not left overnight. 

4.4 Implementation of Ideological and Political Education in Courses 

Taking ancient buildings such as Zhaozhou Bridge and Yingxian Wooden Pagoda as examples, this 

paper analyzes their mechanical principles and the spirit of craftsmanship, guiding students to 

appreciate the engineering value of “striving for excellence”. Analyze the technological innovations 

behind super projects such as the Shanghai Tower and strengthen the sense of mission of “serving the 

country through science and technology”. In the chapter of “Structural Stability”, combined with the 

two collapse incidents of the Quebec Bridge, the social responsibility and professional ethics of 

engineers are explored. In the truss bridge design competition, a “sustainable development” scoring 

item has been added, requiring students to demonstrate environmental friendliness from dimensions 

such as material selection and construction techniques, and cultivating the awareness of green 

engineering. 

 

 

 

 



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5. Conclusions and Prospects 

5.1 Conclusion 

This research takes the cultivation of engineering practice ability as the core goal. Through systematic 

reconstruction of teaching content, innovation of teaching methods and optimization of the evaluation 

system, a three-in-one curriculum reform framework of “theory-practice-ideological and political 

education” for structural mechanics has been constructed, and the following core achievements have 

been made: 

(1) Guided by the OBE concept, through strategies such as “engineering case-driven” and “integration 

of interesting experiments”, the chronic problem of the disconnection between theory and practice in 

traditional teaching has been effectively solved. Students are not only capable of analyzing complex 

structural problems based on mechanical principles, but also demonstrate remarkable engineering 

practice abilities in the operation of computer tools and the optimization design of structures. 

(2) Enhancement of learning motivation and innovation ability. The implementation of the blended 

teaching mode and group collaborative tasks has effectively enhanced classroom participation. Students 

performed outstandingly in the discipline competition of intelligent building structure design, verifying 

the effectiveness of the “learning by doing” concept. 

(3) Deep integration of ideological and political education in courses. Through the multi-dimensional 

infiltration of ancient architectural wisdom, modern engineering achievements and the spirit of 

scientists, students’ sense of social responsibility and engineering ethics have been significantly 

enhanced. 

5.2 Future Directions 

To further deepen the curriculum reform, continuous exploration is needed from the following 

dimensions: 

(1)  Cross-curriculum collaborative reform to promote the integration of the knowledge systems of 

structural mechanics with prerequisite courses and subsequent courses. The reconstruction of course 

knowledge has been integrated into the core contents of statics and mechanics of materials. In 

subsequent professional courses such as steel structure design, structural mechanics optimization 

algorithms can be introduced to construct an integrated teaching chain of 

“analysis-design-verification”. 

(2) Artificial intelligence technology empowers teaching. Based on the Chaoxing Learning Pass smart 

course platform, a personalized learning path recommendation system is constructed. 

(3) Deepen the integration of industry and education, promote the entry of enterprise real questions into 

classrooms, cooperate with design institutes, construction enterprises and building technology 

enterprises, transform practical engineering problems into course tasks, and invite engineers to 

participate in the review of achievements. 



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Jia, S. Z., & Xu, N. X. (2018). Discussion on the Combination of Structural Mechanics Teaching and 

Engineering Practice in Civil Engineering Major. Higher Architectural Education, 27(4), 126-130.  

Xie, H. P. (2017). Comprehensively Deepening Educational and Teaching Reform Guided by 

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education. China Higher Education Research, 2017(03), 1-5. 

Zhang, X. C., & Wang, Y. L. (2021). Teaching Reform of Structural Mechanics Course Centered on 

Students’ Learning. University Education, 2021(1), 72-75. 

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