Recently, Tsinghua University announced the 2024 annual advanced collectives and advanced workers commendation list. Following discussion by the 124th Standing Committee meeting of the Fifteenth Party Committee and online publication, the Psychology, Brain and Cognitive Science major direction teaching reform innovation team jointly formed by the Department of Psychology and Xinya College received the "2024 Tsinghua University Advanced Collective" honorary title, and Professor Kaiping Peng received the "2024 Tsinghua University Advanced Worker" honorary title.
Psychology, Brain and Cognitive Science Major Direction
Teaching Reform Innovation Team Introduction
The Psychology, Brain and Cognitive Science major direction teaching reform innovation team, based on the needs of higher education in the new era, proposed an interdisciplinary talent cultivation model. In June 2024, the Department of Psychology jointly with Xinya College established the Psychology, Brain and Cognitive Science major direction, committed to cultivating innovative talents spanning the three major fields of liberal arts, sciences, and engineering. The team proposed the "Mind-Brain-Machine" interdisciplinary cultivation concept, taking the unity of psychology's intuition and formalization as the foundation, through the approach of "liberal arts and sciences integration, science and engineering combination," exploring fundamental scientific questions such as the origin of consciousness and the essence of intelligence on one hand, and providing application scenarios for intelligent technology on the other hand, actively serving the construction of Healthy China.
The team brings together cross-field researchers in psychology, brain science, artificial intelligence and other areas, implementing a "phenomenon-based teaching and project-based teaching" (PBL²) dual teaching model, persisting in student-centeredness, cultivating students' critical thinking and innovative abilities.
Phenomenon-based teaching starts from students' observation and thinking about actual phenomena, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion and critical analysis, integrating knowledge and methods from multiple disciplines such as psychology, brain science, and artificial intelligence, stimulating learning interest and cultivating interdisciplinary systematic thinking. Project-based teaching is practice-oriented, emphasizing the cultivation of hands-on abilities and comprehensive qualities, mastering neuroscience and artificial intelligence methods and technologies through experimental practice projects, achieving unity of knowledge and action, and cultivating innovative problem-solving abilities.
In 2024, the team achieved significant results in teaching reform, receiving approval for and completing multiple teaching reform projects. Team members received multiple teaching-related awards including the "Gong Yuzhi Teaching Award" and "Young Teacher Teaching Excellence Award," and published multiple teaching papers. At the same time, adhering to problem-orientation, the team continuously optimizes teaching content and improves teaching quality, establishing a relatively comprehensive teaching quality evaluation system, regularly collecting student feedback, and evaluating course design, teaching implementation, and teaching effectiveness. Through these measures, while continuously improving teaching quality, the team is committed to promoting teaching reform toward higher-level development.
Professor Kaiping Peng's Achievements Introduction
Professor Kaiping Peng persists on the teaching frontline, long undertaking teaching tasks for multiple psychology major courses. In the 2023-2024 academic year, he taught over 300 class hours with significant teaching achievements. His courses have received honors such as Ministry of Education Quality Course and National First-Class Undergraduate Course, and he has received multiple teaching awards including the "Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award" and "Tsinghua University New Century Teaching Achievement Award." In academic research, he has been selected for the Elsevier "China Highly Cited Researchers" list for consecutive years. Meanwhile, Professor Peng published two monographs: "Emotional Psychology in Life" (May 2024, Tsinghua University Press) and "Seeds of Happiness" (February 2024, SDX Joint Publishing Company), as well as the textbook "Sixteen Lectures on Positive Psychology at Tsinghua University" (April 2024, Tsinghua University Press).
In the 2023-2024 academic year, Professor Kaiping Peng guided over 20 students including undergraduates, master's students, and doctoral students. He is full of care for students, devoting tremendous effort when guiding students, not only focusing on students' academic development but also caring about their psychological growth. In the classroom, he always imparts knowledge in vivid and interesting ways, stimulating students' learning interest and receiving widespread praise from students. After class, he also proactively communicates with students, providing them with further learning resources and research directions, helping them broaden their horizons and enhance their professional qualities.
In the future, the Department of Psychology will continue to uphold its original aspiration, forge ahead with determination, and contribute more wisdom and strength to school development and social progress.
