What is the purpose and value of college classrooms in this era of all-knowing AI? In response to this question, Professor Shao Yue, Deputy Dean of Xinya College of Tsinghua University and Associate Professor at the School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, provides an answer.

When AI can provide a well-reasoned answer to any question in a matter of seconds, what should still be taught in college classrooms?
How can a general science course inspire students to step into the classroom and ensure they truly take something away when they leave?
This is the question Professor Shao from the School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, has constantly pondered while teaching the general education honors course, "The 'Forces' That Change the World". This course is open to students from over 20 schools and departments and over 50 majors across the university, yet it requires virtually no advanced academic prerequisites. In Shao's view, the value of general education lies not in the knowledge itself, but in the transferable underlying logic and foundational thinking behind it, which is exactly the capability humans must not lose in the age of AI.

01

The Debate on General Education:

Logical Transfer Beyond Knowledge Dissemination

What makes general education necessary is a question Shao has constantly pondered while teaching courses over the years.

General education courses are prone to falling into two pitfalls: first, becoming simplified versions of specialized courses, where difficult content is removed and the material is presented to non-majors; second, becoming popular science courses, which, while relevant to daily life, primarily provide information, and this is precisely one of the areas where AI excels.

"The emergence of specialized education stems from the increasingly refined division of labor in society, which creates a need for specialists in corresponding fields. However, as specialization reaches a certain level and clearly defined disciplinary problems are solved one by one, what emerges are more complex and comprehensive problems that cannot be defined or easily solved by a single discipline." In his view, cultivating talent capable of solving these problems is precisely the starting point of general education.

Therefore, Shao emphasizes that general education should place greater emphasis on transfer, applying the underlying logic of existing disciplines to new, undefined, and unsolved scenarios. However, this ability cannot be acquired through the study of a single body of knowledge.

02

The Key of Mechanics:
The Universal Language Inscribed in All Things

Mechanics is the key Shao found to answer the question of general education.

Mechanics, at its core, explains causal logic, and behind the operation of all things lies causality. Mechanics, which describes motion, deformation, and failure, thus possesses the potential for cross-domain transfer.

Shao uses two examples to illustrate this transfer. "Dynamics" was originally a concept in mechanics, but it is now widely applied in the field of brain science, such as in "neurodynamics"; "diffusion" initially referred to Brownian motion, such as salt dissolving in water or ink dispersing in water, but today, the Nobel Prize-winning protein structure prediction and AIGC image generation are both underpinned by diffusion models. Concepts originating in the field of mechanics have yielded entirely new outcomes when applied to other fields. Furthermore, mechanics has two important characteristics: it describes the concepts of "structure" and "motion," which have tangible, perceptible, and verifiable manifestations in the physical world.

This is also one of the reasons Shao uses mechanics as an anchor for interdisciplinary learning. For example, when the concept of "structure" is transferred to calligraphy, it manifests as the structural aesthetics of Chinese characters. If these mechanical concepts can be described quantitatively, they can facilitate cross-domain transfer. Under his guidance, a student who had practiced calligraphy since childhood established a set of definable and quantifiable criteria for calligraphic aesthetics using mechanical terms such as "stability."

03

The AI Question:

From Resource-Oriented to Function-Oriented Learning

If the "transferable underlying logic" answers the question of "what" general education is, then the advent of AI adds even more weight to this answer.

"The more fundamental, standardized, and procedural the knowledge and technology are, the easier they are for AI to master. However, AI struggles to establish underlying logic, as its formation stems from a vast amount of unformalized practical experience."

A particular experience of mathematician Terence Tao left a deep impression on Shao: AI can quickly prove a proposition that has remained unsolved for decades, yet Tao stopped following these proofs in real time because they did not help humans achieve a cognitive leap. In the AI era, correctness is no longer scarce, but humans often fail to truly understand the essence of the ideas behind the "correct answers" provided by AI, let alone possess the ability to transfer this understanding for re-creation. Shao thus points out two human capabilities that AI finds most difficult to replace: first, the ability to form an understanding of the underlying logic of things through practice; and second, the ability to define problems in entirely new and unknown scenarios and to engage in re-creation based on that underlying logic. General education hones both of these capabilities.

Shao further asserts that learning in the AI era is shifting from a "resource-oriented" paradigm to a "function-oriented" one. In the past, when knowledge-acquiring channels were limited, students tried to stockpile as much knowledge as possible. Today, with the knowledge explosion and learning on demand, the more crucial question has become: "What do I want to change or create with this knowledge?"

Shao distilled his reflections into a core motto: "General education as the foundation, practice as the path, harnessing AI, and transcending AI." General education is the bedrock for understanding the world. Practice is the path for upward growth, and AI serves as a "second pair of hands and a second brain" that can be harnessed. Ultimately, transcending AI relies on anchoring to "real problems" that are yet to be defined but possess historical inevitability and infinite potential for growth. "Mastering the underlying logic allows you to direct AI; otherwise, you will be led by it."

04

Classroom Methodology:

Helping Every Student Climb Their Own Steps

Shao's thinking does not stop at the conceptual level. In his course "The 'Forces' That Change the World," he has translated his ideas into a set of curriculum practices known as "Climbing the Steps."

As the first step in their climb, Shao expects students to replace mere interest with a motivation to do meaningful things. "Interest is but a catalyst that will fade; the cornerstone that sustains students in delving into academic depth is the belief in doing something meaningful." 邵玥未Shao has never defined what is "meaningful" from a teacher's perspective; instead, he encourages every student to seek out propositions they personally consider important. They may have played the piano beautifully, shone on the basketball court, or immersed themselves in the art of calligraphy, and musical movements, basketball, and calligraphy can all be connected to mechanics.

To this end, Shao arranges face-to-face feedback sessions every semester. Through one-on-one conversations, he helps students find their "origin of thought": a starting point that truly excites them and provides a sense of purpose. "Students' interest is often obscured by exams and labels. Face-to-face feedback is like peeling an onion layer by layer until the true core of the problem is finally revealed."

Finding a meaningful question is not enough; Shao also leads his students in hands-on practice. Shao insists on pairing theoretical lessons with small experiments. He has students cut paper using different techniques and then stretch it by hand, because changing only the structure, without altering the material, results in drastically different mechanical properties of the paper. When discussing the lotus leaf effect, he encourages students to bring their own clay, sand, and even egg yolk pies to smear on lotus leaves, allowing them to discover for themselves "why grease cannot be washed off" and thereby understand the binding forces among water, pollutants, and the substrate. "Gathering information from a screen primarily engages the visual sense, whereas hands-on practice mobilizes a cluster of senses. AI learns formal logic, while humans acquire embodied cognition. Only through personal experience does knowledge truly become your own, providing a tangible medium for transfer and imagination."

A course cannot do without evaluation criteria, but what sets Shao apart is that he uses incremental assessment instead of a uniform scale, focusing on how far students have progressed from their individual starting points. An aerospace engineering student applied mechanical simulation to develop an interactive game, while a liberal arts student, despite having no technical foundation, channeled their love for jewelry into creating a wearable piece with functional structural and transmission elements. "In my evaluation system, both students' growth is valuable," said Shao. "The difference between improving from 50 to 70 and from 90 to 91 lies not in where they started, but in whether they have made a breakthrough in a new direction—even if just at a small angle."

05

The Long-Term Vision of Education:

More than a Culture, General Education is a Generative Force

Looking at the entire general education system from the vantage point of a single course, Shao offers a calm and profound assessment. "The development of general education is less about building curricula and more about cultivating a culture; beyond institutional mandates, it requires a group of teachers who genuinely identify with this culture."

He advocates for differentiated development among school education, AI, and third-party social resources: there is no need to duplicate efforts on standardized, structured content that AI can teach. Instead, precious classroom resources should be concentrated on unstructured, highly interactive activities that require physical presence, such as face-to-face dialogues, intellectual exchanges, hands-on exploration, and value shaping. In this process, teachers no longer act as all-knowing authorities; instead, they work alongside students to face uncharted scenarios, define undefined problems, and seek answers where none exist. "These are things AI cannot accomplish, and they represent the true core value of school education."

When asked where he derives a sense of fulfillment from dedicating himself to general education, Shao recalled a documentary on the First Sino-Japanese War: back then, students at the naval academy were top-notch in both foreign languages and specialized skills, yet mentally they were just going through the motions on a predetermined track. "The nation appeared to have talent, but in reality, it had lost its capacity for self-renewal." This history convinced him that the most fundamental mission of universities is to sustain the capacity of a nation and its people to continuously cultivate their own talent.
"The last thing I want to see is students feeling that they have already been completely defined. If a general education course can give them a little more courage to step out of their comfort zones, learn to set their own challenges, and, through intellectual exchanges, connect, awaken, create, and gradually define themselves, then that is the most valuable thing."