Abstract: In order to improve the quality of teaching and cultivate innovative talents, a teaching mode reform is proposed on the basis of years of teaching practice in the experimental course of aquatic ecology, which focuses on the teaching syllabus and flexible use of “debating teaching method”. The key points of this reform mode in the experimental course of aquatic ecology are as follows: 1) select some comprehensive experiment projects; 2) strengthen the supervision and teaching of students’ experimental operation and literature retrieval; 3) create reporting and debating session to increase the communication between teachers and students. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that the teaching reform method applied in the experimental course of aquatic ecology is successful and can be applied in other majors or related experimental courses.