Building Environment studies the thermal and humid environment, the air environment, the sound and light environment, and the indoor air quality of buildings as the main content. This course plays an important role in training programs for engineering in construction environments and energy applications. The main research concerns the impact of the actual microenvironment of buildings on human comfort and health, with the aim of creating healthy, comfortable and safe living environments. It is a science that reflects the relationship between humans, buildings and the natural environment. The theoretical knowledge involved in this course is interdisciplinary and advanced, and closely related to practical life, making it suitable for students to conduct independent research. Independent experimental research is conducive to training students in the ability to use theoretical knowledge to solve practical complex problems and to exercise their communication, expression, teamwork and other qualities. Teaching studies in the built environment lack tracking and statistical analysis of long-term teaching reform projects, and in particular, in-depth research and analysis of specific student practice projects. In order to stimulate students' learning enthusiasm and innovation awareness, cultivate and improve their overall ability to solve practical complex problems with theoretical knowledge, independent experimental research is highlighted in teaching sessions as an important component of curriculum system construction. Cooperate with independent research, guide students to choose their own topics, reasonably formulate research plans, and complete experiments. This paper summarizes the progress of students' self-selected topics, types of research objects, corresponding research methods, application and updating of experimental instruments during the 20 years of independent experimental research of the Built Environment course of environmental construction major of Dalian University of Technology, and makes a statistical assessment of students' engineering knowledge, problem analysis and comprehensive ability improvement. It was found that as science and technology developed, the variety of experimental instruments became more complete and could achieve more functions, greatly broadening the range of independent experimental research topics available to students. The rapid development of society has placed constant and high demands on students, demanding both solid knowledge and greater practical ability. Therefore, in recent years, more than 50% of students tend to choose research objects with more complex influencing factors, and 100% of students use non-single research methods to carry out experimental research, and exercise their professional abilities from various aspects in order to comply with the requirements of the development of The Times. Independent experimental studies enable students to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms, purposes and means of indoor and outdoor environmental regulation. It also develops students' ability to formulate and implement research plans and write papers, as well as their ability to find, analyze and solve problems by fully applying what they learn. Post-school surveys of students found that students did not have a deep understanding of lifelong learning and the cultivation of values in the curriculum, and future teaching should strengthen the cultivation of learning habits and ethics among students. In contrast to other previous papers, the features and innovations lie in the following. First, it analyzes the statistical data of 20 years of teaching, expounds the role of independent research on the learning of basic engineering courses combined with years of statistical data and actual teaching effects, and analyzes the influence of science and technology, society and other factors on the teaching process and effect. The second is to incorporate the assessment and harvest of previous students into the curriculum learning process, to constantly think about the future development and reform direction of the curriculum, and to strive to provide a more comprehensive platform for students to improve their abilities. In this paper, various issues in the process of student independent experimental research are analyzed in detail and some suggestions for improvement are made, providing a reference for the construction and development of Building Environment and other engineering courses.