CDIO is currently an advanced innovative training concept of higher education. Aiming at the cultivation of outstanding civil engineers in Southeast University, this paper introduced the curriculum reforms for special structures course based on the CDIO concept. The teaching and learning of this course were conducted with the form of research projects. And a series of reform method were introduced in the teaching period, e.g. course plans, lectures, seminars an assessment systems, etc. Practice results show that this teaching mode is an effective way to stimulate the college students’ ability of practice, creativity and teamwork. It had also laid a good foundation for the professional courses, graduation design works and even future research works.