Hierarchical multiple stars need designations for individual components, for super-components (several bodies that act as single dynamical center and are often measured jointly) and sub-systems. Hierarchical designations like those proposed for WMC can satisfy all needs, but designations will have to be frozen and will not reflect true hierarchy in the future as new components are discovered. Hence, a clearing house (WMC on the web?) is needed to maintain unique and consistent designations. The hierarchy can be coded separately and flexibly by reference to parent super-components. As an example, these ideas are applied to a real quintuple star HR 1706.

Should the designation of the components of a system reflect its known hierarchy or rather the history of their discovery? With the recent progress in, say, radial velocity techniques, the old famous order in which components were used to be discovered (inner to outer components for spectroscopic systems) is somehow altered. In the past, capital letters were used for visual companions and lower case letters for spectroscopic components and there was almost no overlap between the two groups. The situation has changed from both ends of the orbital period interval. In some rare cases, we think letters should be re-distributed and re-assigned in order to reflect the structure of the system. With an adequate choice of the data structure, such a change of the companion designation is rather straightforward to implement in modern databases (such as SB9). The only foreseen drawback is related to the cross-reference with some old papers: the letter B would not designate the same component in a 1970 paper and in a 2003 one. For instance, the former secondary of an SB2 system might now refer to the unseen companion and an astrometric triple.

I would like to discuss the difficulty of developing and maintaining a hierarchical designation scheme for components of multiple systems, when components are found by more than one method. Such a sequence of discoveries can easily lead to conflict between the initial nomenclature, which gets established in the literature, and that based on a scheme that is in broader use, or is more physically representative, or both. I will describe as an example a hypothetical complex system whose hierarchical description depends on the sequence in which discoveries are made, and whose designation in discovery order is ambiguous. In the end I urge flexibility in designations.

Although Very Long Baseline Interferometry has resolved a few binary stellar systems, pulsars provide the main source of binary and multiple stars through radio astronomy techniques. There are about 85 binary pulsars and two multiple systems known. Currently there is no formal system of designating these companions.

At the IAU General Assembly in 2000, the Working Group on Extrasolar Planets (WGESP) was established as a working group of Division III. Its terms of reference include acting as a focal point for international research on extra solar planets and organizing IAU activities in the field, such as, organizing comparative reviews of techniques used to detect extra-solar planets and establishing criteria for detections of varying degrees of certainty, as well as maintaining lists of objects satisfying these criteria. The committee is chaired by Alan Boss, and the current members are; Paul Butler, William Hubbard, Philip Ianna, Martin Kiirster, Jack Lissauer, Michel Mayor, Karen Meech, Francois Mignard, Alan Penny, Andreas Quirrenbach, Jill Tarter, and Alfred Vidal-Madjar.

The IAU is a union of professional astronomers who produce new astronomical results and who make the frontiers of astronomy expand. However, the IAU cannot stand by itself but needs the support of governments as well as the people. This is one reason why the IAU set up Commission 46 – originally called “Teaching of Astronomy” and renamed “Astronomy Education and Development” with much wider mandate in 2000 – to cover astronomy education from the level of beginners to that of post-doctoral students.

Even in my astronomically-developed province of Ontario, Canada, with an excellent public education system, astronomy was not a compulsory topic in the school curriculum until quite recently. So I began collecting a list of reasons why it should be, in the hope of persuading those who set the curriculum.

It would be instructive, however, to start by asking: “Why is astronomy not included in the curriculum?” Here are some possible reasons: (i) Astronomy is perceived to be irrelevant to practical concerns such as health, nutrition, agriculture, environment, engineering, and the economy in general; this is particularly true in developing countries, (ii) Most school teachers have little or no knowledge of astronomy, or astronomy teaching; in fact, they may have the same deeply-rooted misconceptions as their students, (iii) Astronomy is perceived as requiring night-time activities (“the stars come out at night, the students don’t”), and expensive and complex equipment such as telescopes, (iv) Astronomy is perceived as being solely “Western” by some non-Western cultures. (v) There may be conflict – real or perceived – between astronomy and personal beliefs such as religion, culture, and pseudo-science; in fact, astronomy is sometimes viewed as being as speculative as pseudo-science, (vi) Many of the available resources are designed for affluent schools in affluent countries, or for different latitudes, longitudes, and languages, (vii) Astronomy may be seen as allied with high technology, with all its real and perceived dangers.

Astronomy has an interdisciplinary aspect that in some cases is very positive. It is interesting to combine Astronomy with other topics and introduce Astronomy in general projects in school in order to integrate several courses, for instance Physics, Mathematics, Geography, Biology or History; however these kinds of projects are sporadic. In order to promote Astronomy it is better to try to introduce it as a course in its own right. The viability of this situation depends on the national curriculum and the plans of the Education Ministry in each country. In general, the majority of countries do not have Astronomy as a specific course and it is not easy to achieve. Therefore, if this option is not possible, we should adapt to the real situation, that is to say include Astronomy as a part of other courses. This contribution aims to propose a new point of view which could work to make this the case.

There are many problems associated with the teaching and learning of astronomy that require further investigation (Taylor k, Barker 2000). Students’ difficulties with visualization, mental modeling and conceptual restructuring have been reported by a number of researchers. Aspects of these important areas of research are examined in the paper. However, there has been limited focused research in the specific area of astronomy teaching (Taylor & Barker 2000; Treagust & Smith 1989). For example, the value of strategies that engage students in challenging their prior beliefs and intuitive ideas, thus enabling them to perceive patterns and grapple with frame of reference problems, and construct acceptable models of celestial phenomena, must be assessed. Such strategies might incorporate or re-enact historical discoveries (Noble 1999) thus engaging students in thinking about astronomical phenomena from an intuitive position.

Astronomy education research (AER) uses the systematic techniques honed in science education and physics education research to understand what and how students learn about astronomy, and determine how instructors can create more productive learning environments for their students. A recent review of the literature in this area revealed a number of articles that could be classified into four major categories: research into student understanding, research on instructional methods, research on teacher understanding, and descriptions of curriculum materials.

I think there is nothing like the study of astronomy to capture the imaginations of our students, to make them understand phenomena, and to introduce them to the fundamental ideas and methods of science and mathematics. In my presentation, I will examine my research on effective teaching and learning of astronomy at the elementary school level, and how I have implemented my research in my work with students, teachers, and curriculum.

This paper briefly reports two major programs being operated by Charles Sturt University, Bathurst: the Cosmology Distinction Course for gifted and talented senior high school students and the CSU Remote Telescope Project for upper-elementary and lower secondary school students.

Astronomy is a subject that poses many deep questions that intrigue students. It can effectively engage gifted and talented science students in their school years. Numerous international and Australian schemes utilize astronomy as a means of challenging and extending such students. Using Gagné’s definition, gifted students have potential distinctly above average in one or more of the domains; intellectual, creative, social and physical. Talented students exhibit skills that are distinctly above average in an area of human performance. Such students may comprise about 10-15% of age peers in that field. Theymay be identified through a variety of means; by teacher, parent or self, sometimes via diagnostic tests, at others through participation in hobbies or other interests.

There is little research on elementary/secondary teacher preparation. Few teachers are called upon to teach astronomy specifically, or their astronomy teaching is peripheral to their main interest (e.g., general science at lower levels or physics at higher levels). Statistics indicate that large increases in student populations are expected throughout the world. “In 1997, 1.2 billion students were enrolled in schools around the world. Of these students, 668 million were in elementary-level programs, 398 million were in secondary programs, and 88 million were in higher education programs.” (Digest, 2002) These figures included large increases from the 1990 figures, e.g. 38% increase in secondary education and 68% in higher education for Africa, as opportunities to obtain an education and population both grew. (Digest, tables 395 and 412).

Astronomy education of school teachers is reviewed in the context of in-service training when astronomy is part of the curriculum, or not. Methods and results are presented based on experiences of teacher training during 25 years, in France.

I report on American textbooks for kindergarten through highschool grades. Middle school, up through approximate age 15, is the last time American students are required to take science, and I provide statistics on the narrowing of the funnel containing those taking physics. I describe some recent curriculum and standards projects, and I discuss the recent “less is more” trend. I conclude with comments on whether textbooks are necessary and useful and discuss possible content and style of an ideal textbook.

In 1944, three years before India became independent of the British rule, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his now famous book Discovery of India: ”The impact of science and the modern world have brought a greater appreciation of facts, a more critical faculty, a weighing of evidence, a refusal to accept tradition merely because it is tradition”. But even today it is strange how we suddenly become overwhelmed by tradition, and the critical faculties of even intelligent people cease to function. He then went on to express the hope that ”Only when we are politically and economically free will the mind function normally and critically”.

Mesoamerica is a large zone that includes most of Mexico and Central America. In that region one of the few written languages was invented. A large civilization flourished thanks to the discovery of agriculture and the use of a mixture of corn, beans, squash and peppers that conveys a high nutritional content. In this part of the world there are mainly two seasons, the dry and rainy periods. The slave driven civilization that developed in this part of the world consequently divided the civil year in two, mainly dedicated to agriculture and construction. A good calendar was needed for central planning and commerce.