Bridging Theory and Practice: CDIO-Based Teaching Reform of “Automatic Control Principles”

The rapid advancement of industrial automation has raised significant challenges in teaching "Automatic Control Principles," a foundational course for Electrical Engineering majors. Traditional teaching methods, characterized by abstract theory and verification-focused experiments, fail to meet the demands for developing application-oriented skills. This study implements teaching reforms based on the CDIO engineering education paradigm, including: creating an integrated knowledge system based on "One Principle, One Center, Three Indicators, and Three Methods"; and adopting a project-based "task-driven + progressive approach" with a three-level virtual-physical experimental system; and establishing diverse evaluation mechanisms. Teaching practice demonstrates that this CDIO-based cross-course integration model effectively enhances students' engineering practical abilities and learning enthusiasm, receiving positive feedback from both employers and graduates. The results suggest that this approach successfully bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing valuable insights for engineering course reform in new engineering education.