He has taught at all levels, ranging from elementary human physiology to advanced comparative anatomy to first-year veterinary medicine courses. In addition to teaching, he recruits and actively mentors 20 senior undergraduate students to serve as discussion leaders in his human physiology classes. Students praised Guinan for his organization, preparation, clarity, energy and ability to make science interesting. They noted that he encourages student participation and creates a comfortable, non-intimidating learning environment. He received special praise from students for a new interactive computer program he introduced for laboratory material in an upper-division course that compares the organs of various vertebrate animals.
Students can access the program from the Web and work through the material at their own pace.
In the intervening two years, she taught at George Washington University and was a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. Her knack for telling a story and conveying difficult conceptual issues to students without extensive background has been marked. She is able to develop a rapport with an entire class very quickly. She is particularly noted for her talent for taking a student's own inchoate ideas and helping the student focus them into a research assignment that is both innovative and original.