I would like to dedicate this paper to the memory of my husband, Henryk Iwaniszewski, an astronomer working in radio astronomy and electronics, who until his untimely death seven years ago had been very active as president of our local branch of the Polish Amateur Astronomers Association. He was especially keen about introducing astronomy to the general public.

I want to speak here mainly, but not exclusively, about the IAU Colloquium No. 98, “Contribution of Amateur Astronomers to Astronomy,” which was held in 1988 in Paris. First of all, some definitions. Thomas Williams of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), from Houston, Texas, introduced at the conference several criteria for identification — first of astronomers, and then of professionals and amateurs. According to Williams:

The handbook Astronomy (Handbuch für Sternfreunde), edited by G.D. Roth, will soon appear in its fourth edition. Newly written by 25 authors, the two volumes contain an additional chapter: Extragalactic Objects. The intention of my 50-page contribution to these volumes is to show the amateur astronomer that extragalactic work is not disappointing, ending in the northern sky with a fuzzy picture of the Andromeda Nebula.

The former editions of Roth’s handbook were mainly characterized by the statement that the observation of extragalactic objects is beyond the capabilities of the amateur. In the last ten years the situation has drastically changed, especially because of new photographic techniques and sensitive emulsions and the availability of CCD’s even for amateur astronomers. Small telescopes are no hindrance to doing interesting extragalactic work.

Astronomers, in addition to their scholarly and academic functions, have the mission to bring enlightenment to the people. In the City of New York, astronomers fulfill this mission through the Amateur Astronomers Association. Over the decades, the Association, or AAA, evolved a multi-faceted scheme of public enlightenment in astronomy. Under this scheme, astronomy in New York City has become a freestanding cultural amenity on a par with streetfairs, artshows, plays, and parades.

Once a month during the school year, the Association presents a formal public lecture on astronomy. These are convened in the American Museum of Natural History, the ancestral birthplace of the AAA. Occasionally, lectures are featured at a large university in the City for time and place variety. At these lectures, a professional astronomer explains some contemporary topic on a first-year college level, illustrated by slides and viewgraphs. The lectures — and all public activities of the AAA — are free of any charge. Area high schools and colleges employ the AAA lectures as an extra-curricular activity for their students.

Imagine an American trying to explain a triple play to someone who understands English poorly and who has never seen a baseball diamond, much less a game. Yet this is the sort of challenge astronomy educators face every day both in the classroom and in more informal settings.

In a college classroom, the professor has some time to teach students the language of science and astronomy. As the students gain proficiency, they can then comprehend increasingly complex concepts. Through repeated classroom exposure and study, eventually most students learn the basics of astronomy.

Mexican professional astronomers have a great task ahead if they want to popularize astronomy. We are very few and the country has great educational needs, with 4 years of elementary school being the average educational level.

In order to overcome this challenge, the Institute of Astronomy of the National University has popularized astronomy using the following resources: 1) publications, 2) public lectures, 3) advice to museums and planetariums, 4) radio and television interviews, and 5) courses.

I am presenting this paper only with reference to my city of Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu, where more than 60 per cent of the population are illiterate.

I am an active member of the Madras Astronomical Association and I am the Vice-President of the Vivekananda Astronomy Club, both of which are popularizing astronomy among the masses.

Though we have been pleading for the necessity of a planetarium over the last two decades, we got one only in May 1988. But for the last seven years, we designed and set up a mini-planetarium at the Education Pavilion of the Trade Fair Exhibition conducted by the local government every year.

Astronomy, unlike most other sciences, arouses great curiosity amongst laypeople. It is a subject that can be described relatively easily in public lectures. Distinguished astronomers like James Jeans and Arthur Eddington in the past and many more in recent times have “stooped down” to the public level to share the excitement of astronomical discoveries. Today, the popularization program normally proceeds in four different ways — through popular articles, public lectures, planetarium shows, and radio – TV programs. However, this overwhelming public interest in astronomy brings its own difficulties. Not all of it is motivated by a scientific interest! Many persons read mystic significance into astronomical findings. Many more are guided by astrological interest. Many fail to perceive the scientific basis for astronomy, a subject whose laboratory is the whole cosmos with objects too remote to be subject to scientific experimentation.

The only full-time public observatory in Britain is the Mills Observatory in Dundee, Scotland. John Mills was a successful businessman in Victorian Dundee with an interest in astronomy. He bequeathed his money to build a public astronomical observatory in the city, for studying “the wonder and beauty of the works of God in creation.” The Mills Observatory was eventually opened in 1935.

Dundee is situated on the northern shore of the River Tay, in central Scotland. The Observatory stands on a wooded hill (an extinct volcano) near the center of the city. The trees shelter it from virtually all direct city light, while leaving an uninterrupted view south across the Firth of Tay. There is some scattered light, but in clear weather the sky can be surprisingly dark, and the Milky Way distinctly visible.

Based on the pedagogical ideas of A. Diesterweg, a number of science associations have been founded since about 1880 under the name of URANIA; astronomy has been one of their subjects. In the 1920–1930’s, the works of Bruno H. Bürgel and Robert Henseling initiated the founding of many more local and regional associations and of public observatories all over the country. But most of the currently active associations were founded to answer the sharp increase of general interest that followed the early successes and spectacular results of space science.

- Aims of the associations always have been manyfold:

- to share a fine hobby with like-minded people;

- to participate theoretically or practically in scientific research as far as technical and local circumstances allow;

- to offer to the public means and advice for celestial observations, and to share the joy of deep-sky wonders with guests;

- to mediate the progress, and the results of astronomical research to the public.

The tasks and aims of the Bochum Observatory are popularization of astronomy and space sciences, and adult education. In general, as a cultural center for natural sciences we must translate scientific nomenclature into the language of the nonspecialist. Astronomy is ideal for presenting the basic facts of scientific methodology and reasoning to the public

A planetarium is the most versatile instrument for teaching basic astronomy and space sciences to the general public as well as to school groups. We take great care to avoid a lecture-like style in the programs. Audience surveys have shown that most visitors don’t want to get the feeling of being educated as in school. Nevertheless, we first have to motivate before we can educate. Instead, most visitors want merely to enjoy astronomy in the pleasant atmosphere of the dome. Consequently, our public planetarium shows contain elements of entertainment. We use many special effects, panoramas, and all-sky projections for a most precise simulation of astronomical phenomena. The audience should get the thrilling impression of witnessing things from close up. For example, they all become passengers on an imaginary spacecraft visiting the rugged terrain of Valles Marineris on Mars, the swirling clouds in Jupiter’s atmosphere, or even the vicinity of a whirlpool-like accretion disc around a supermassive black hole in the core of an active galaxy. We use the potential of the planetarium as an “illusion factory” to increase the visitors’ positive attitude towards astronomy and space travel. Special music, sound, and noise effects add to the impression.

The Unità di Ricerca (U.d.R.) Asiago, of the National Astronomical Group of the Italian Research Council, consists of:

1) the staff of the Padua-Asiago Observatory

2) the staff of the Astronomy Department of Padua University

3) external members with interests in stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astronomy and in technology.

The teaching of astronomy at the U.d.R. Asiago has several aspects: popularization, educational visits, cooperation with amateur groups, promotional contacts with public institutions, participation in a commission on school programs, and participation in the educational activities of the Italian Astronomical Society.

New Zealand is a self-governed, independent nation, a member of the British Commonwealth, and a major center of Polynesian culture in the south Pacific. The country’s two main islands lie between 34° and 47° south latitude, which places New Zealand south of many well known southern observing sites such as Sydney (Australia), Cape Town (South Africa), and Cordoba (Argentina).

The population of 3.5 million people inhabit a country slightly larger than the United Kingdom. The astronomical interests of this small population are nourished by no less than 25 local and regional astronomical societies. Amateur astronomers are active in New Zealand. The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand coordinates national interests and hosts international activities.

In 1982, after a 124-year history of research, Sydney Observatory became a branch of a large local museum, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. A four-year, million-dollar project was undertaken to restore the building and its grounds to their nineteenth century appearance. The services needed for a modern museum were also added. One of the larger areas became a modern lecture theater seating up to fifty people, with back projection video, film and slide projectors.

Exhibition space within the building is limited to eight rooms of approximately 200 m2 total area. To overcome this lack of space, a proposal has been made for an extension to the rear of the building. An underground 100-seat planetarium is included in the proposal. There is a great need for this as there is no planetarium currently in Sydney.

The University of Sydney has been associated with adult education courses for the general public for at least 70 years and astronomy has often been a part of this activity. Since 1976, these courses have been conducted by a succession of graduate students from the Astronomy and Astrophysics departments within the university. The courses were a part-time activity conducted with limited resources, but served as useful teaching experience. This arrangement continued until the end of 1987 when I left the university. I am pleased to report that this activity is considered sufficiently important to be continued by the permanent academic staff.

Here I seek to briefly report on these astronomy courses by describing those that I conducted at the university over the last five years. I should firstly acknowledge the work of Dr. Graeme White in particular, for his earlier courses and continuing interest. Also, this discussion should be placed in context by recognizing that other astronomy courses are run in Sydney by professional and amateur astronomers through local evening colleges and other organizations. These vary in format, with many of the amateur-run courses emphasizing the practical aspects of sky observing. The displays and facilities provided by the Sydney Observatory also play an important role. Each activity helps to meet the demand in the Sydney region for astronomical education and thereby undoubtedly serves the interests of Australian astronomy.

Much of this meeting has been concerned with the teaching of introductory astronomy to children, teenagers, and young adults. Introductory astronomy for working and retired adults has been given short shrift, however. Because the mature population is significant in number and in its influence on governmental support for astronomy, I thought that some mention should be made. My own experience concerns the educational programs that are available to mature students in the United States.

Most working adults are restricted by their jobs to taking classes in the evening. Most large universities in the United States provide such classes. These are often administered by organizations that are completely autonomous from the “host” school. A typical arrangement is for the school to provide classroom space, access to audio-visual equipment (sometimes), and university credit for those who register for credit. The “adult education,” “continuing education,” or “university extension” organization handles the rest. It obtains the necessary faculty to teach the courses, advertises the classes, and administers the registration and grading. For the “credit” courses in astronomy, the most common teachers are graduate students and postdoctoral fellows looking for some extra cash and teaching experience. There is no real impetus for regular faculty members to teach these classes. This is an unfortunate circumstance that could be remedied by some private, state, or federal funding of endowed “chairs” in adult education.

I am going to start with the premise that planetariums serve several roles in their communities:

1. They are popularizers of astronomy and space science

2. They support and enhance the teaching of astronomy and related subjects within the formal education system

3. They provide a community resource for astronomical information

Not all planetariums incorporate all of these roles or do so to the same degree.

Planetariums, as facilities, come in a variety of forms. At one extreme might be a space theater with its wide-format films. A major public facility would have a strong emphasis on public shows and school programming. A college or school facility would emphasize programming for the education system at some or all levels with some or no public programs. At the other extreme would be the small portable planetariums with 100 per cent use for school activities.

I would like to discuss strategies for participation within planetarium programs. The planetarium is not only a theater in which passive audiences can hear lectures and see demonstrations. It is also a classroom in which people of all ages can benefit from involvement. Participatory programs have been advocated in the US since the early 1970’s, and the idea has grown and spread.

One participatory method involves drawing. For example, an elementary school group can draw a planet group for two or three different times. The psychological value of learning by drawing is well known. And drawing positions of stars and planets with appropriate labels produces take-home sky charts. Families can and do use them to learn astronomy and enjoy the sky together.

Project STARWALK is an Earth/space science program, developed for elementary students in grades 3 and 5 or 4 and 6. The program is designed around the teaching of some basic earth science concepts (Earth’s rotation, revolution, and axial tilt), and their consequences. Classroom lessons are designed to both prepare and follow-up student visits to a planetarium facility. The planetarium is used as an instrument to display models to help the students understand the concepts. There are three visits to the planetarium (fall, winter, and spring).

The role of the teacher is to prepare the students for a laboratory experience at the planetarium. This is done by way of the materials provided, and whatever other strategies the teacher deems necessary. There are a variety of activities designed for both pre- and post-reinforcement of the concepts.

In some countries, such as the U.S.A., there are quite a lot of major planetariums and an enormous number of small fixed-operating planetariums. In France, the situation is not as good. There are only three planetariums with domes in excess of 15 meters across, six with diameters between six and nine meters, and ten transportable ones. For these last — five EX3s, three Starlabs and two of personal design — the inflatable domes are between four and five meters in diameter, providing a dedicated astronomy teaching facility significantly large to accommodate a typical class.

The Bronx High School of Science is a public school in the New York City school system. It is a specialized school whose students are selected on the basis of a competitive exam. Our planetarium projector was installed out his spring, so many of these suggested activities are still in development stage.

In the high school setting, the planetarium has a dual role as a teaching tool and as a motivational tool. The planetarium is used in the Astronomy and Astrophysics course, an advanced elective. This use permits a detailed study of the sky, which is otherwise difficult in New York City. Students who are familiar with thinking in two dimensions often have trouble making the transition to the three dimensions required in astronomy. The planetarium is an invaluable tool to develop students’ spatial orientation. Further, the planetarium generates tremendous enthusiasm.