As a compulsory course for civil engineering specialty (including structural engineering, bridge engineering, underground engineering, track engineering), the importance of steel structure principle is self-evident. Reinforced concrete structure and steel structure are two main popular structural forms, and the application of steel structure is now strongly encouraged by our country because of its excellent seismic performance and environmental protection characteristics. In order to adapt to the application and development of steel structure, setting and adjustment of the teaching content, allocation of teaching hours, and proportion of classroom teaching and practical teaching are studied combined with the teaching and scientific research of steel structure. Methods of classroom and experiment teaching are discussed combined with multimedia and structural test technology, the contents, forms and methods of experiment teaching are provided. This paper explores how to improve students" enthusiasm in classes, how to arouse students" study emotions and how to strengthen interaction between teachers and students. At the same time, it discusses how to combine teachers" scientific research content, realize the effective combination of theoretical teaching, engineering practice application and scientific research, and stimulate students" innovative thinking ability.