{"id":240,"date":"2021-08-03T20:52:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T20:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/?page_id=240"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:17:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:17:56","slug":"teaching-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>Info Text &#8211; Right Hand Column Placeholder<br \/>Refresh After Saving to Remove<\/h2>\n  <h3><strong>Teaching Philosophy<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/\">Teaching Philosophy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/our-relationship\/\">Our Relationship<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/expectations-of-me\/\">Expectations of Me<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/our-team-lab-culture\/\">Our Team &amp; Lab Culture<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n        <p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/hinton-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/04\/Teaching-5_800pix-768x540-1-600x540.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" \/>The operative terms in any teaching philosophy are student learning and practical instruction. While this is true for the Hinton lab, our teaching philosophy has grown and transitioned from the &#8220;typical&#8221; model of presenting students with basic facts and developing an assessment that measures their retention. We view such teaching as counterintuitive to deeper understanding. As such, there is an emphasis on a Socratic teaching style that embraces constructivist principles and metacognition for greater student accountability. Avoiding rote memorization by students in teaching and fostering an attitude of critical analysis is instead the lab&#8217;s primary goal in teaching.<\/p>\n <!-- rich-text -->\n        <p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/hinton-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/04\/Teaching_3-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/>This method encourages students to identify the next steps in a &#8220;scenario&#8221; in an interactive way, much like a detective story. Lab members are challenged to solve real-world questions in the laboratory by solving a semester-long research problem related to diabetes and hypertension. Lab members are also challenged to combine cell biological and biochemical approaches to delineate the mechanisms of insulin action in insulin-sensitive tissues, such as the brain, heart, and skeletal muscle. As lab members understand the full scope of what they can achieve, they begin to discover and recognize their strengths and weaknesses and develop the confidence to overcome deficiencies. When mentees are appropriately challenged, they will improve their communication skills, demonstrate enhanced retention, and understand the relevance of biology to their lives. As mentors, it is our job to instill and refine expectations of mentees, recognizing differences in learning styles and individual differences. Through improvisation, every lab member is taught and supported differently.<\/p>\n <!-- rich-text -->\n        <p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/hinton-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/04\/Teaching_4-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" \/>In the end, learning is more frequently achieved when teachers can model various problem-solving strategies that span the basic concepts to highly sophisticated technologies used as tools to generate experimental and clinical results. This lab believes that teaching and mentoring go hand in hand. To this end, experiences in our laboratory promote a mentee&#8217;s ability to identify questions and concepts that guide scientific inquiry. Personal growth through understanding one&#8217;s own learning style, biases, strengths, and weakness is required to become an effective learner in this lab. This approach is complemented by a Socratic teaching style that seeks to contextualize the importance of science, instill a drive for excellence, and inculcate a life-long method of learning that de-emphasizes simple memorization.<\/p>\n <!-- rich-text -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Info Text &#8211; Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove Teaching Philosophy Teaching Philosophy Our Relationship Expectations of Me Our Team &amp; Lab Culture The operative terms in any teaching philosophy are student learning and practical instruction. While this is true for the Hinton lab, our teaching philosophy has grown and transitioned from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ACF":{"topper_style":"default","topper_overline":"","topper_title":"","topper_intro":"","default_topper_background_type":"none","footer_style":"standard","recirculation_style":"none","nav_menu":"","nav_menu_secondary":"no","page_style_option":"details","page_theme_option":"light","page_class_name":"","page_jumplinks_option":"no"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pd98bx-3S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/our-relationship\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":0},"title":"Our Relationship","author":"Stephen Doster","date":"August 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Info Text - Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove Teaching PhilosophyTeaching PhilosophyOur RelationshipExpectations of MeOur Team & Lab Culture My lab is like my family. The success, happiness, and learning of my lab members is of paramount importance to me. I want you to enjoy your time in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/hinton-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/04\/Our-Relationship-1.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/our-team-lab-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":1},"title":"Our Team &amp; Lab Culture","author":"Stephen Doster","date":"August 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Info Text - Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove Teaching PhilosophyTeaching PhilosophyOur RelationshipExpectations of MeOur Team & Lab Culture The success of everyone in our lab is your own success. You should support and assist others in publishing high-impact papers, and they will do the same. We should\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/teaching-philosophy\/expectations-of-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":2},"title":"Expectations of Me","author":"Stephen Doster","date":"August 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Info Text - Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove Teaching PhilosophyTeaching PhilosophyOur RelationshipExpectations of MeOur Team & Lab Culture I work hard to support you as a student and an individual. My primary job is to keep the lab running, to allow you to perform the experiments you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":488,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/about\/past-speaking-engagements-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":3},"title":"Past Speaking Engagements Photos","author":"Stephen Doster","date":"August 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Info Text - Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove BiosketchBiosketchCurrent Speaking EngagementsPast Speaking EngagementsPast Speaking Engagements Photos 3rd Congress on Steroid Research, 2015, Chicago Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) Conference Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP), June 25, 2019 University of Texas - El Paso\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/about\/past-speaking-engagements\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":4},"title":"Past Speaking Engagements","author":"Stephen Doster","date":"August 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Info Text - Right Hand Column PlaceholderRefresh After Saving to Remove BiosketchBiosketchCurrent Speaking EngagementsPast Speaking EngagementsPast Speaking Engagements Photos View photographs of previous speaking engagements here! Past Speaking Engagements Invited Research Lectures and Presentations: 5th\u00a0Annual\u00a0REACH IRACDA Symposium, Houston, Texas (Invited Speaker, 2014) Summer Medical and Research Training\u00a0(SMART) Program, Houston, Texas\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1964,"url":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":5},"title":"Hinton Lab","author":"Gobinath Mani","date":"April 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Private: Serial Block Facing Scanning Electron Microscopy utilized to image fly tissue in the lab. .story-list .story-list__topper { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; } Previous Next","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lab.vanderbilt.edu\/hinton-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}