Soil mechanics and foundation is a typical civil engineering course containing rich ideological and political elements, and the exploration of the ideological and political elements contained in it is a strong support for the realization of all staff, whole course and all-round education. Combining with the Guidelines for Ideological and Political Construction of Curriculum in Colleges and Universities, the ideological and political elements in the curriculum are summarized into three parts: patriotism, traditional culture and scientific innovation. Through celebrity stories and typical engineering cases, the specific embodiment of relevant ideological and political elements in the course is demonstrated. Centering on the theory, experiment and engineering application of soil shear strength, the ideological and political teaching examples of the course are designed, achieving an organic integration of professional knowledge and ideological and political education. This teaching model not only improves teaching effectiveness but also cultivates students’ patriotic feelings, scientific spirit, and innovative spirit, laying a solid foundation for their all-round development.