Engineering structures and the related design course are important basic courses for engineering management major. The contents of courses are heavy while the teaching hours are limited, yet the class number is usually large and the fundamentals of mechanics are weak for engineering management undergraduates. These raise challenges for the teaching of engineering structures. A process-oriented teaching method is presented that closely combine the design practice with the course study. A creative design project, small yet complete in term of design principles, is assigned to help students solidify the old knowledge while preparing for the new. It not only help student to develop the problem solving ability, but also lower down the study difficulties and timely master the knowledge. This teaching method overcomes the limitation of class number for the structure design course compared to the traditional teaching method. It is applicable to big class of Engineering Management undergraduates with weak fundamentals of mechanics.