CH Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission announced the results of the 2024 Shanghai Municipal First-Class Undergraduate Courses in Higher Education Institutions (Document No. 5 of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission [2025]). The course "Aerodynamics (1)" led by Professor Chen Fang from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was successfully selected. This is another significant achievement of the course team's years of teaching reform and innovation.
Aerodynamics (1), as a core foundational course for aerospace engineering, has been dedicated to cultivating students' professional basic knowledge and skills since its establishment, laying a solid foundation for their in-depth understanding of aircraft design. In recent years, the course has achieved remarkable results in multiple innovative areas, including all-English teaching, the construction of the "SJTU-MAI Program" international program, the development of a hybrid online and offline classroom with AI empowerment, the integration of ideological and political education in cutting-edge courses, and the construction of a first-class virtual simulation experiment course. The team has introduced international advanced teaching concepts to assist the "SJTU-MAI Program" in cultivating talents with an international perspective; through the Canvas platform and AI technology, it has achieved efficient management of hybrid teaching; by integrating ideological and political elements and aerospace cases, it has inspired students' patriotic aspirations; and by using virtual experiment technology, it has broken through the limitations of time and space, enhancing students' theoretical and practical abilities, and has been awarded the first National Digital Education Benchmark Case.
The course director has been actively exploring industry-driven multi-dimensional collaborative education practices, and has established an integrated and interconnected aerospace power course system. As a result, they have won two Shanghai municipal-level first-class undergraduate courses, two Shanghai municipal-level key courses, the first prize for collective achievements in postgraduate education from the Shanghai Excellent Teaching Achievements Award, the first prize of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Teaching Achievement Award, the first prize of the Course-based Ideological and Political Education Group in the Teaching Innovation Competition, the Outstanding Contribution Award for the Connection between Middle School and University Education, the Model Course for Undergraduate Course-based Ideological and Political Education, and the Special Award for Outstanding Course-based Ideological and Political Education Construction. The student team has won a gold medal in a single event, the team championship in the China International Aeronautical Design Challenge, and the Special Prize in the 19th "Challenge Cup" Special Competition for "Posting Challenges and Accepting Bids". The improvement of students' core qualities fully demonstrates the teaching effectiveness of the team.
The course team has developed a systematic teaching plan and content arrangement to comprehensively enhance students' subject literacy and practical abilities. For instance, in the lesson "Aerodynamics: Some Basic Principles and Equations", it is clearly stipulated that students should master the core knowledge points and practical skills after completing this class. At the same time, group review of the main knowledge points is arranged. On the basis of understanding, students form mind maps through discussion and share their achievements.
In the future, the course team will continue to enhance teaching quality, further explore the blended teaching mode of online and offline, enrich case analysis, encourage students to learn actively and improve their problem-solving abilities; strengthen the construction of teaching resources, produce diversified teaching materials, update the course website and use AI to provide personalized learning support; strengthen practical links, add experimental equipment, deepen course design and academic guidance, encourage participation in social practice in related fields, and cultivate their sense of responsibility and citizenship.