The sustainable development of teaching expertise in research-intensive universities remains a critical global challenge. This study investigates the distinctive characteristics of expert teachers—exemplary faculty in research universities—addressing their developmental trajectories and motivational mechanisms within prevailing incentive systems that prioritize research productivity over pedagogical excellence. Employing grounded theory methodology, we conducted iterative coding of 20,000-word interview transcripts from 13 teaching-awarded professors at Chinese “Double First-Class” universities. Key findings reveal the following: (1) Compared to the original K-12 expert teacher model, university-level teaching experts exhibit distinctive disciplinary mastery—characterized by systematic knowledge structuring and cross-disciplinary integration capabilities. (2) Their developmental trajectory transcends linear expertise acquisition, instead manifesting as a problem-solving continuum across four nonlinear phases: career initiation, dilemma adaptation, theoretical consciousness, and leadership expansion. (3) Sustainable teaching excellence relies fundamentally on teachers’ professional passion, sustained through a virtuous cycle of high-quality instructional engagement and external validation (including positive student feedback, institutional recognition, and peer collaboration). Universities must establish comprehensive support systems—including (a) fostering a supportive and flexible learning atmosphere, (b) reforming evaluation mechanisms, and (c) facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration through teaching development communities—to institutionalize this developmental ecosystem.

Educators aspire for learners to proficiently apply acquired knowledge across diverse contextual scenarios. Facilitating knowledge transfer involves employing varied methodologies in the construction of instructional materials. Regrettably, extant research lacks a comprehensive examination of the efficacy of these methodologies in specific applications. Drawing upon cognitive psychology principles, this research delineates three representations of instructional materials conducive to knowledge transfer: the amalgamation of conceptual content and digital applications, the integration of conceptual content with situational queries, and the fusion of two situational queries. Subsequently, a cohort comprising 63 third-grade students undergoes experimentation to discern the differential impacts of the aforementioned instructional material configurations on both knowledge acquisition and transfer. Findings indicate a general convergence in the acquisition of mathematical knowledge and transfer capabilities, albeit with discernible variations in the domain of problem-solving sub-skills. Specifically, instances of excessive familiarity with situations facilitate knowledge acquisition but do not necessarily correlate with enhanced transfer acquisition. This underscores the recommendation that educators incorporate instructional materials wherein learners possess a moderate level of familiarity with the given situations during the design phase, thereby fostering concurrent development of transfer acquisition and knowledge acquisition.