The Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China deployed education, science and technology, and talent as an integrated whole, explicitly proposing the strategic requirement to cultivate "outstanding engineers." The Opinions on Strengthening Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era, jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and 17 other departments, made it clear at the national level to "coordinate the planning of science education and engineering education." The secondary school stage is the "joint-strengthening and bud-forming period" for cultivating innovative talent. Engineering education is not only an important extension of science education, but also a key lever for addressing pain points in education such as "prioritizing knowledge transmission over practical innovation" and "prioritizing disciplinary fragmentation over cross-boundary integration." Currently, secondary school engineering education still faces some challenges in practical implementation, urgently requiring clarification of direction from the theoretical and logical level, and breaking through difficulties with a systematic action pathway, so as to cultivate students' innovative thinking and sense of responsibility toward the future and realize the deep value of secondary school engineering education — cultivating "future engineers" for a technologically powerful nation and laying a solid talent foundation for national rejuvenation.
Challenges Facing Engineering Education in Secondary Schools
The core value of secondary school engineering education lies in guiding students to understand the world through engineering thinking and to transform the world through innovative practice. But from the current state of practice, its educational effectiveness is constrained by the following prominent problems:
Superficiality of technology integration. Many schools lack appropriate digital laboratory equipment, maker spaces, and other technological platforms, and the proportion of teachers who can skillfully use AI, VR, and other technologies in engineering teaching is relatively low. Some schools, even when equipped with teaching devices, have teaching that remains at the level of "demonstration and observation." For example, some schools' 3D printing equipment is used only for simple model making, without deep integration with core concepts such as materials science and structural engineering, failing to transform technological tools into "scaffolding" for problem-solving.
Superficiality of innovative thinking cultivation. Traditional classrooms mostly use a "teacher demonstrates — student replicates" model for engineering activities. For example, when building a simple bridge, students only need to assemble according to drawings, without needing to think about the relationship between load-bearing capacity and material selection or the logic of structural optimization. This teaching model ignores the core of engineering education, namely the thinking closed loop of "define the problem — design a plan — iterate and optimize." If educational practice only stays at the level of completing a product without guiding students to engage in critical thinking and innovative improvement, the cultivation of innovative thinking becomes a formality.
Fragmentation of the connection between science and engineering education. Science education focuses on discovering laws; engineering education focuses on applying laws to solve problems. The two should complement each other symbiotically. For example, when explaining "force," extending to the engineering practice of "bridge load-bearing design" would greatly enhance students' understanding of force analysis; when organizing students in hands-on practice, actively exploring the underlying scientific principles helps students form systematic engineering thinking. But in reality, there often appears the phenomenon of "engineering without science" or "science unrelated to engineering."
Theoretical Basis of Engineering Education in Secondary Schools
Addressing these challenges requires clarifying the underlying logic of secondary school engineering education at the theoretical level, grasping the fundamental direction of "why to teach" and "what to teach."
According to knowledge production theory, the production of human knowledge has shifted from a "single discipline, academically driven" model to a "cross-disciplinary, application-driven" model, and even toward a "multi-agent collaborative, socially-driven needs" model. Secondary school engineering education needs to adapt to the transformation from "disciplinary fragmentation" to "cross-boundary integration" in knowledge production modes, breaking down the boundaries between mathematics, science, technology, and other disciplines, and building an interdisciplinary knowledge network linked by real-world problems.
Traditional engineering education has long been dominated by the science paradigm, viewing engineering merely as the application of scientific principles, and neglecting the essence of engineering: finding the optimal solution under limited resource constraints. New-era engineering talent cultivation in higher education is shifting toward the engineering paradigm, with the core being excellence in ability and practice-orientation. Although secondary school engineering education does not aim to cultivate professional engineers, it needs to convey this core concept, pursuing the essential return to the engineering paradigm of moving "from science-dependence to practice-as-the-foundation." For example, when designing a campus waste classification system, students must not only understand the scientific principles of material classification, but must also consider cost budgets, teacher and student acceptance levels, and equipment maintenance. In the process of weighing these factors, engineering thinking is cultivated, and this is precisely the core competency essential for innovative talent.
Embodied cognition theory emphasizes that cognition originates from the interaction between the body and the environment, and that innovative thinking does not arise out of thin air but is gradually generated in the process of "hands-on practice — reflection and improvement." The 35 years of practice of RDFZ's "Shaonian Jinggong" (Youth Precision Craftsmanship) curriculum cluster confirms this. Supported by embodied cognition theory, through the complete engineering process of "discover the problem — design a plan — prototype production — functional testing — plan iteration," the leap from abstract cognition to practical generation is achieved. For example, students understand the principles of kinematics when adjusting the launch angle of a water rocket, and master electrical knowledge when optimizing an emergency lamp circuit, achieving "learning by doing, learning through creating." This pathway of "physical participation — cognitive leap" is the key to overcoming the superficiality of innovative thinking cultivation — only by letting students personally experience the process of "failure — improvement — success" can their critical thinking and innovative ability be truly cultivated.
Practical Pathways for Engineering Education in Secondary Schools
Secondary school engineering education needs to make efforts in three major dimensions — curriculum, teaching staff, and assessment — to build a systematic solution.
Build a "layered and collaborative" cross-disciplinary curriculum system. Using "core foundation — key deepening — radiating integration" as the framework, create a curriculum system with clear levels and orderly articulation. The core layer draws on practical national curriculum, embedding engineering elements into science courses, general technology, information technology, labor education, and other courses. For example, science classes carry out simple tool improvements in the technology and engineering unit, while senior high school general technology classes focus on engineering thinking cultivation. The key layer draws on other national curricula to develop cross-disciplinary thematic courses, integrating engineering elements and a practice-oriented approach into teaching design. For example, the campus carbon neutrality project integrates chemistry, mathematics, general technology, and other disciplines. The radiating layer extends to school-based curricula and social practice. This system design both avoids the superficiality and marginalization of engineering education and avoids overburdening subject teachers in a short time, ensuring the deep integration of science and engineering.
Teaching staff is the key to the implementation of engineering education, requiring the improvement of a "cultivation — supplementation — enhancement" teacher development mechanism. In pre-service cultivation, teacher training institutions should actively establish science and engineering education tracks, and comprehensive science and engineering universities can establish primary and secondary school science education tracks. For example, the "National Excellence Program" supports "Double First-Class" universities in cultivating graduate-level science teachers. For part-time supplementation, establish a collaborative mechanism of "enterprise engineers — university experts — primary and secondary school teachers," broadly absorbing social resources to support school science and engineering education development based on local conditions. For in-service enhancement, drawing on national summer schools for science education and the National Training Program for Primary and Secondary School Teachers, organize targeted training for existing teachers to improve their abilities in technology application, engineering design, and curriculum design.
Establish a "process-based" evidence-based assessment system. The traditional assessment that judges success or failure by the quality of the final product must be abandoned, and a three-dimensional assessment system of "knowledge — method — thinking" must be built. In terms of assessment content, focus on problem discovery and problem definition abilities, the reasonableness of plan design, and the iterative improvement process. In terms of assessment methods, adopt portfolio assessment, process observation, and peer evaluation; by recording the process and retaining traces, shift the emphasis of assessment from the presentation of results to the development of thinking. This is highly consistent with the essential logic of practice-orientation and iterative optimization in engineering education, and serves as a bridge connecting the practical process with competency development.
(The authors Lu Haijun and Jiang Fengmin are respectively Vice-Principal of the High School Affiliated with Renmin University of China and Deputy Head of the General Technology Teaching and Research Group of the High School Affiliated with Renmin University of China. The original article was published in Guangming Daily, December 2, 2025, Issue 15.)
