Abstract: With the objective of cultivating innovative and applied talents, the graduate students in materials majors in the context of the new engineering disciplines have put forward higher requirements on their innovative spirit and practical ability. To enhance the graduate students'application ability of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), a practical teaching session in the mode of training on the operation of SEM was carried out by relying on the Testing Centre of Inner Mongolia University of Technology. The training was guided by postgraduate research projects, innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, production practice cases and hands-on operations. The practical teaching session was optimized through on-site lectures, practical case show, hands-on operations, operator qualification certification and tracking of the hands-on process. Multiple regimes, including training programme for the operation of SEM, the charging standard, the certification of operation qualifications and the rules of open sharing, were established for conducting the practical teaching session. The practical teaching not only contributes to the cultivation of innovative spirit and enhancement of practical ability of the graduate students, but also fully explores the important value of SEM in the cultivation of innovative applied talents.

Key words: Postgraduate, Scanning electron microscopy, Creative spirit, Practical ability, Hands-on training, Open for sharing