The course of built environment occupies an important position in the training program of built environment and energy application engineering. The course of built environment at Dalian University of Technology takes the teaching reform as a breakthrough point, shifting from “teaching centered” to “learning for practical use”. By summarizing the situation of students’independent topic selection, research object types, corresponding research methods, and allocation and updating of experimental instruments in the past 20 years, and evaluating the improvement of students’comprehensive abilities in analyzing and solving problems using the knowledge they have learned, it is found that with the improvement of experimental instrument testing parameters and recording functions, the scope of independent experimental research topics gradually expands. More than 50% of students choose to explore the comprehensive environmental change characteristics of buildings with different functional uses, and provide analysis for reasons. 100% of students use non-single research methods to conduct independent research. This research process helps students deeply learn the mechanisms, objectives, and methods of indoor and outdoor environmental regulation, and cultivates their ability to engage in engineering and social practice activities with correct values. Therefore, in the teaching process, it is necessary to deeply explore the course content, break through habitual cognitive patterns, optimize the classroom teaching design of each chapter, enhance the challenge of independent practice and research process assessment, promote the deep integration of modern information technology and teaching process, strengthen the ideological and political construction of the curriculum, adhere to the organic integration of knowledge, ability, and professional literacy, and make students qualified talents with independent thinking ability, innovative cooperation spirit, and social responsibility.