Cultivating innovative talents with autonomous learning abilities is the core task of higher education and a major strategic measure in establishing a learning society and an innovative country. The high-quality development of courses related to rock impact dynamics in colleges and universities is crucial to educating high-quality scientific research talents in mining, safety, and blasting engineering. This approach plays a key role in the swift development of rock mechanics engineering and the safe, efficient development and construction of deep resources in China.

Splitting Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) is a dynamic experimental system with convenient operation, wide application, and high reliability for examining the dynamic mechanical response and energy evolution properties of rock materials under medium and high strain rates. The application of SHPB experimental technology to the practical teaching of theoretical courses associated with rock impact dynamics is one of the crucial measures to foster students’ practical ability in scientific research and innovative thinking. SHPB experimental technology is innovatively applied to the practical teaching of courses related to rock impact dynamics, and the experimental course content of SHPB cyclic impact compression for tuff is designed. The major experimental teaching contents include the introduction of a typical SHPB stress three-wave graph, stress balance analysis, stress–strain curve analysis, strain rate time–history curve analysis, damage and fracture behavior analysis, energy evolution analysis, and fracture mesomorphology analysis. The pioneering fusion of OM and SEM testing technology with rock impact dynamics experimental technology reveals the damage mechanism of rock materials under the SHPB cyclic impact test to students from the micro level and enhances the students’ comprehension of rock mesodamage and rock macro failure. The combination “independent autonomous learning + teachers’ professional guidance” is proposed to guide students to describe their views and understanding, master the correct method of experimental analysis, and develop a framework of knowledge application that can view the essence through phenomena and promote the scientific research ability to combine theory with practice.

By adopting the teaching mode of integrating the SHPB experiment with relevant theoretical courses in rock impact dynamics, students’ learning interest and scientific research enthusiasm in the field of rock impact dynamics are improved, the students’ cognition and understanding of the response of rock impact mechanics and the characteristics of energy evolution are strengthened, the practical operation ability and rigorous attitude of students in scientific experiments are fostered, the subjective initiative of students to conduct experimental research independently is developed to the fullest, and the poor teaching effect of theoretical knowledge indoctrination is addressed.

This paper establishes the idea of the cross-integration of multiple disciplines, integrating with popular issues in scientific research and guiding students to reflect on and explore “SHPB+” further. On the basis of remarkably enhancing the teaching outcome and achieving the teaching objective of rock impact dynamics, cultivating students’ practical ability of scientific research and innovative spirit of thinking is crucial.