Abstract: Addressing the national “dual carbon” strategy and the urgent demand for interdisciplinary talent cultivation in emerging engineering fields, this study focuses on the pedagogical challenges of general education courses often being reduced to “simplified versions of specialized courses” and non-chemistry majors’ insufficient understanding of energy technologies. Using Shandong University’s general education course “The Age of Charging” as a case study, we systematically present its teaching reform and practice. The course adopts an educational philosophy that transforms knowledge “charging” into competency “empowerment”, with energy storage technology at the core of energy revolution as the entry point. We have established a tripartite teaching content system encompassing “theoretical foundations-experimental exploration-industrial applications” and designed innovative experimental modules covering the complete workflow of “synthesis-characterization-assembly-testing”. The “layered hybrid” teaching model effectively addresses students’ diverse academic backgrounds. Multiple teaching iterations (n = 757) demonstrate significant improvement in learning outcomes: students’ accuracy in understanding core concepts of rechargeable batteries increased from 32% in pre-course assessments to 94% post-course, with teaching evaluation scores reaching 98.14/100. Our practice reveals that key factors for enhancing the effectiveness of energy-related general education courses include transforming research advantages into educational resources, employing problem-driven approaches to stimulate inquiry, and implementing process-oriented evaluation to promote deep learning. These findings provide valuable references for similar course development.

Key words: Rechargeable battery, Dual-carbon strategy, General education course, Problem-chain teaching, Experimental inquiry