Abstract: According to the principle and characteristics of the digital elevation model (DEM) teaching in the geographic information system (GIS) major, the DEM thematic experiment teaching content is developed to cover the basic concepts, algorithms and processing methods. The teaching content includes the DEM data model, feature extraction, multi-scale features, data interpolation quality analysis, and data rendering. Commercial and open-sourced GIS platforms and other experimental teaching platforms have been made fully use to construct the experimental environment. Through the experiments of verification and algorithm implementation, the content of the DEM topic is highlighted in various aspects. A process of the DEM thematic experiment teaching has been established to help students to consolidate their professional knowledge.