EXPLORING THE ROLE OF FRONTIER SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN COLLEGE PHYSICS TEACHING PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY OF NEW ENERGY THERMOELECTRIC CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY

College physics is a foundational course for students majoring in science and engineering. It covers a wide range of contents and provides a crucial foundation for the subsequent professional courses. However, there are certain issues that need to be addressed, such as the lack of appreciation for college physics courses, the abstract nature of the knowledge, and the traditional indoctrination teaching method. These factors contribute to students finding the study of college physics boring and difficult to comprehend, resulting in a lack of motivation and interest. In this work, we firstly introduce the radioactive thermoelectric generator (RTG) carried by Chang'e-4 lander and “Yutu-2” from China's major frontier of science and technology. Subsequently, we also carry out independent explored experiments of power generation of small-scale thermoelectric device and present thermoelectric refrigeration videos in the classroom. Consequently, it significantly ignites students' curiosity for knowledge about the principles and applications of advanced new energy thermoelectric conversion technology. Furthermore, we propose a reforming strategy that analyzing the physics knowledge contained in the frontier researches of new energy thermoelectric conversion technology, and integrating it into the teaching practice of the Carnot cycle in college physics courses. This approach seeks to blend the frontier scientific research with the learning of college physics, thus achieving the goal of comprehensive development of teachers and students. This paper is a preliminary and beneficial attempt to build the relationship between university physics knowledges and frontier scientific researches, and is expected to provide references for more frontier scientific research to integrate into university physics teaching practice.