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Driven by Emerging Engineering Education and basic education reform, cultivating engineering literacy in pre-service teachers is vital for nurturing innovative talent. This qualitative multiple-case study examines current practices in nine leading Chinese normal universities, primarily through document analysis of institutional policies and curricula, supplemented by faculty interviews and a pre-service teacher survey in a subsample of institutions. Thematic analysis reveals prominent predicaments: a fragmented curriculum, monolithic training models, misaligned resources, and low student motivation. These issues stem from ambiguous conceptual positioning, weak institutional design, and a shortage of specialized faculty and platforms. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a systematic Four-in-One breakthrough framework encompassing Top-Level Design, Platform Foundation, Faculty Empowerment, and Project-Centric Cultivation. Central to this framework is a dual-track drive model, which integrates hands-on engineering practice with pedagogical application, enabling future teachers to develop engineering thinking and the competency to translate it into effective classroom teaching. While the proposed framework requires further empirical validation, this approach offers a theoretical and practical pathway for reconstructing teacher education and building a high-quality teaching workforce.
Xie et al. (Fri,) studied this question.