While I enjoy research, my real passion as a scholar is teaching. Fortunately, I have had opportunities to teach courses at three prominent Canadian universities: the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, and the University of King’s College . For each of my courses, I designed the syllabus, created the assignments, delivered lectures, and interacted with students one-on-one. These have been perhaps the most rewarding experiences of my academic career.
Since 2019, I have taught “Astronomical Revolutions”, a course on the historical development of astronomy and cosmology, in the Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga. You can see the syllabus here.
At Dalhousie, I have taught a course entitled “Engineering and Society: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives” in 2021 and 2022. This is a required course for second-year engineering students. The course provides an overview of the history of engineering and technology, and it also provides training in ethics. In 2021, my work in this course was recognized with a Recognition Award for Engaging Lectures, which is awarded by the Dalhousie Undergraduate Engineering Society. You can see the syllabus for this course here.
In 2022, I taught the online section of two introductory history of science courses at the University of King’s College. The first course covered the period from antiquity to the Enlightenment, and the second course addressed the 19th century to the present. My syllabi can be accessed here and here.
During my PhD, I taught two courses at U of T’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST). One of these was “Scientific Revolutions I”, the IHPST’s survey course on the history of science from antiquity to the year 1800. During the course, we covered not only the developments within science, but also the effects on science of a wide range of other factors, including politics, religion, new inventions and institutions, and contact between cultures. You can see the syllabus here.
In addition, in 2015 I taught a third-year undergraduate course entitled “History of Science and Religion”. This more specialized course addressed the history and historiography of the complex science-religion relationship from antiquity to the twentieth century. You can see the syllabus here.
Finally, since 2019, I have taught Language Arts and other classes at Brain Power Enrichment Programs. Among the classes I teach there is one that I developed myself: a four-week workshop on alien encounters in science fiction literature!
As a teacher, I strive to make history accessible, relevant, and enjoyable to all students, whether their academic background is in the humanities or the sciences. For more on my teaching philosophy, you can read my statement here.
Adam Richter, PhD 