In this paper, three-dimensional physical model test method is used to study the law of surface and rock movement and deformation induced by open-pit highwall mining based on the project of Anshan Yanqianshan iron mine in Liaoning Province. The results show that the existence of controlling joints in the rock mass has an important influence on the range of strata movement, deformation process and mechanism; the model test shows that the strata movement and deformation above the goaf is a "well" collapse, which is consistent with the collapse pit found in the field investigation. The results show that the physical model test can reproduce the whole process of mining induced surface and strata movement in microcosmic, which is helpful for us to analyze the deformation mechanism of strata movement semi quantitatively.