We propose a set of modern and stimulating activities related to the teaching of Astronomy orientated to high school or university students using smartphones. The activities are: a) the experimental simulation of asteroid light curves including the determination of the period of rotation of asteroids, b) the experimental simulation of exoplanet detection by transit method, c) the experimental simulation of stellar distances using parallax and d) the use of virtual and augmented reality.

Youths and kids in Indonesia since almost two decades ago have been showing significant increase of interest in space sciences, especially astronomy. One of the main factors is due to the annual event of National Science Olympiad which includes Astronomy as the subject. The increasing level of public interest, especially younger generation on astronomical events, such as eclipses, moon sightings, meteor showers has been constantly observed from time to time. Being aware that Astronomy course does not included in primary and secondary education level’s curricula, teachers are somewhat desperate and are not capable to play role as clearing house in science related to space. The IAU Network of Astronomy for School Education Network (IAU-NASE) course was started in 2016 in Machung University, East Java as the pilot project in Indonesia. The course has attracted significant interest from teachers and university staff, especially in East and Middle Java Provinces. Being confident with the enthusiasm of teachers who expressed that NASE course could fulfil their needs to teach and instruct students in a very efficient way, it was organized consecutively at Bandar Lampung, Lampung Province in 2018 and 2019 (hosted by Institut Teknologi Sumatera) and in 2020 at Bandung, West Java Province (hosted by Institut Teknologi Bandung). The most recent NASE course on 21–23 August 2020, conducted in on-line mode, was attended by 74 participants, although primarily aimed at 15 School teachers, and was quite successful. The on-line observational activity turned out to be the most impressive session for the participants. We report and review four years of IAU NASE courses in Indonesia, with various documentation and brief analysis of the positive impact to the teachers and instructors attitude in teaching astronomy at secondary level of education.

LLAGN are very important objects for studying as they are found in a large fraction of all massive galaxies. Nevertheless this topic needs more investigation as fraction of LLAGN in all AGN are much more higher than fraction of researches dedicated to LLAGN among all AGN studies. The goal of our work is checking out X-ray properties of LLAGN. For this purpose we created a sample of LLAGN by selecting most prominent LLAGN from literature and analyzed their X-ray spectral properties. As a result, we obtained 12 LLAGN and for 8 of them XMM X-ray observations are available. The spectra from one XMM camera, PN, were fitted with power law + absorption of neutral hydrogen. In the current report we present the previous results of this study. We plan to increase numbers of objects in our future studies.

Of all the questions that Man asks himself about the Universe, the one concerning the possibility of the existence of an extra-terrestrial life form, and even more of an extra-terrestrial civilization, is probably the most fascinating. We cannot answer it today, but we can imagine the implications for the human species and its future in the Universe.

This project is designed for children under 18 years that have to frequently visit hospitals or that have to endure long-term hospital stays. The aims are to entertain these children and their families, to increase their scientific culture, and to promote scientific vocations. So far we have visited one hospital in Mexico City bringing astronomy to the patients and their families. We have developed five hands-on activities and one musical activity that ensures that all the children can participate independently of their conditions. We plan to expand this project to other hospitals and other cities in the country. Our next challenge is to start virtual visits to hospitals.

This article presents a didactic experience in teacher training carried out in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. The training was carried out on the occasion of a total solar eclipse taking place in this region on July 2, 2019. Prior to this event, the authors, members of NASE, developed training meetings of the Ministry of Education of Santa Fe , on topics of Astronomy. From these workshops, participants of all educational levels with different specialties, carried out with their students school science activities where they applied Astronomy with an interdisciplinary perspective. In this way, the eclipse became an event that made possible an enrichment of astronomical education in the region.

Sunspot observations, normally made with small telescopes during the last four centuries, should be considered a world heritage for many reasons including purely scientific aspects and other cultural and social reasons. Here, these aspects are briefly reviewed.

I discuss the second IAU Strategic Plan for the decade 2020–30 in the context of the overall evolution of the IAU in recent past decades. This article shows how the IAU has evolved dramatically since WW2. It is hardly recognizable in terms of its original organization and goals of a century ago. What was once an inward-looking body engaged purely with the procedures of astronomical research is now a dynamic and outward-looking organization, interacting with people, especially students and the public.

A large part of this success must be attributed to the IAU’s unique body of individual members, whose number has grown strongly in recent decades. It is the individual members, especially through the Commissions and Working Groups, who have promoted these enormous changes in the outlook of the Union. This is a model for other scientific unions to follow, and especially for the work to promote the careers of women in science, for promoting the careers of young astronomers, for bringing students into astronomy or into science in general, for helping people with disabilities to have careers in astronomy, for engaging with the public, and for helping to develop astronomy and science in developing countries.

Looking to the future, the IAU’s new Strategic Plan for the years 2020 to 2030 has five major goals for the coming decade: 1. The IAU leads the worldwide coordination of astronomy and the fostering of communication and dissemination of astronomical knowledge among professional astronomers. 2. The IAU promotes the inclusive advancement of the field of astronomy in every country. 3. The IAU promotes the use of astronomy as a tool for development in every country. 4. The IAU engages the public in astronomy through access to astronomical information and communication of the science of astronomy. 5. The IAU stimulates the use of astronomy for teaching and education at school level.

Future developments will also be engaging with the large number of amateur astronomers and helping to promote astro-tourism, which is perhaps the new frontier now growing rapidly around the world. The Strategic Plan is a blueprint for forging a social revolution in astronomy and for using astronomy as a tool for building a progressive society.

Influence of astronomy education, in other disciplines, can give some possible explanation even in the history field. We propose to link astronomy, history and heritage through Big Data, without a telescope.

If we look to the Dacian Draco flag we can find a similitude with Draco constellation and that was a little bit intrigue. In the era of digitalization we can use computers to see back in time.

In the context of the European Middle Ages as the period roughly covering from the 5th to the 15th centuries, the astronomical records are rarery found in scientific treatises. At least, not until the 15th century. A few surprinsing examples in which the observations were recorded in a particularly original way on stone are found. In this poster we will shortly review the only four cases in which this occurred in Europe.

This paper provides a brief overview of the many facets of astronomy education and heritage, and how the IAU stimulates them. Activities range from training in astronomy through scientific meetings and schools for young astronomers, to using astronomy as a tool for development and for stimulating science education at school level. Communicating astronomy with the public and engaging in outreach activities with children to inspire curiosity is yet another way of how astronomy can help build a literate society and install a sense of global citizenship. The involvement of many people at all levels is key to success.

This contribution describes the concept, main structure and goals, and some highlighted outcomes, of the AstroCamp—an international academic excellence program in the field of astronomy and physics created in 2012 and organized by Centro de Astrofsica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) together with the Paredes de Coura municipality and several national and international partners.

I present three examples of IBSE (Inquiry-Based Science Education) type activities for students and teachers using data and resources from the Faulkes Telescope Project and the National Schools’ Observatory. Both projects have recently celebrated their 15th anniversary and both provide free access via the internet to 2-metre robotic telescopes to educational users throughout the World. Each activity contains supporting material and sample datasets in several aspects of astronomy as well as instructions on how to analyse data. These activities are designed to be ‘teacher-free’, extended projects for students.

They include the study of open clusters via astronomical images and population studies of exoplanets. I also present a Citizen Science project using data from Type Ia supernovae as discovered by the Gaia Alerts consortium. These data allow citizen scientists to develop their own Hubble Plot and begin to understand the link between Type Ia supernovae and the age of the Universe.

In 2018, two schools from Japan participated in Stories of Tomorrow, a computer-based STEAM educational practice for primary school students. We were able to learn from the students’ feedback that through problem-solving, a spirit of collaboration, a spirit of overcoming failure, and a deep understanding of scientific research and technology development have been nurtured. We also confirmed the importance of translation and coordination to cross over the language barrier.

Despite the many amazing advances that have occurred in the space sciences (planetary science, heliophysics, astronomy, and cosmology) these subjects continue to play minor roles in pre-collegiate science education. Similarly, the Earth sciences are woefully under-represented in most school science programs – despite their vital relevance to our physical well-being. Some countries have educational standards that formally prioritize the Earth & space sciences as much as the physical and life sciences, but even they fail to actualize their mandated priorities. I contend that better coordination and advancement of Earth & space science education at the national, state, society, and educator levels would lead to better educational outcomes worldwide.

On the occasion of celebration of moon landing (2019) we designed a set of educational activities for the youngest, based on the moon. We wanted to talk, play and engage young people reflecting and enjoying different points of view and demystifying the idea of science and scientists in a personal and meaningful journey. After this year of experimentation we also engaged with public schools co-designing and tailoring those activities despite the current sanitarian crisis. We will describe a physical artifact called ‘Lunatario’ and its 3d printable version together with cross-disciplinary educational activities and our tentative documentation. We will also describe how, with the help of a very diverse team, we embedded other media in our moon exploration working in particular with picture books and animation. We believe this is a great way to deeply engage young people with STEAM in a democratic way.

Africa has amazing potential due to natural (such as dark sky) and human resources for scientific research in astronomy and space science. At the same time, the continent is still facing many difficulties, and its countries are now recognising the importance of astronomy, space science and satellite technologies for improving some of their principal socio-economic challenges. The development of astronomy in Africa (including Ethiopia) has grown significantly over the past few years, and never before it was more possible to use astronomy for education, outreach, and development as it is now. However, much still remains to be done. This paper will summarise the recent developments in astronomy research and education in Africa and Ethiopia and will focus on how working together on the development of science and education can we fight poverty in the long term and increase our possibilities of attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in future for benefit of all.

When we talk about Astronomy, we normally do not take into account that we are using a cultural specific way of understanding the sky. Astronomers, either professional, amateur or just lovers of the sky nowadays tend to approach the sky from the point of view of modern science. There, we approach the sky as something that needs to be explored, understood and explained.

However, this vision was not always like that, or even in other cultures is/was completely different. For centuries, the human being has comprehended the sky, its changes and constancies, as part of their world, as part of the environment, as part of their everyday life.

In this paper, I review a few of these different ways of approaching the sky in several cultures, from the Near East to Rome or the Andes and how we can use them today for education, outreach and heritage management.