As an important component of the higher education system, graduate education plays a crucial role in cultivating innovative talents, promoting scientific research, and contributing to social development. Therefore, to achieve the goals of graduate education in cultivating innovative talents and advancing scientific research, it is particularly important to nurture students' research thinking abilities. This article addresses the existing problems in current graduate education processes and proposes a seminar-based teaching model guided by "innovation." Combining with the actual situation of the discipline of Transportation Engineering at East China Jiaotong University, a detailed implementation plan and arrangement are formulated using the graduate course "Frontiers and New Developments in Transportation Engineering" as an example. This seminar-based teaching model is beneficial for cultivating various capabilities of graduate students and promoting the formation and development of their research thinking abilities.