Research on the teaching of AI general education courses for undergraduate mechanical engineering students based on the “tool-focused and multi-element integrated framework”

With the rapid advancement of AI and the widespread adoption of large language models, offering AI general education courses for non-computer science majors has become a key direction in higher education reform. However, current courses face challenges such as disorganized content and ambiguous objectives. This paper proposes a “Tool-Focused and Multi-Element Integrated Framework” for undergraduate mechanical engineering students, emphasizing AI tool applications in academic and daily life while integrating fundamental concepts, disciplinary applications, and ethical considerations. Based on actual course instruction, a teaching experiment was conducted with 343 undergraduate mechanical engineering students, in which both experimental and control groups were established. Teaching effectiveness was evaluated through course assessment scores and student questionnaires. The experimental results indicate that this teaching method can enhance students’ mastery of fundamental AI knowledge and its applications to a certain extent. The study suggests that the Tool-Focused and Multi-Element Integrated Framework is conducive to achieving the instructional objectives of AI general education courses and provides a useful reference for the development and reform of related courses in higher education institutions.