There is much discussion in archaeological circles about challenges associated with the millions of artifacts generated by fieldwork. Most of these discussions are limited to issues within the profession, such as care of collections, accessibility for research, orphaned collections, and shortcomings in training on collections awareness. An underrecognized third party in these discussions is the public. Despite a broadly held ethos of the importance of archaeology for all, archaeologists have paid comparatively little attention to sharing/exposing collections (and the outcomes of excavations) with audiences outside of the profession. This research discusses negative ramifications of not sharing collections with broader audiences and then presents some options for broadening this much-needed engagement through developing more public outreach efforts, providing alternative uses of collections, collaborating with private collectors, and using digital technology to increase access to collections.

This paper presents a public outreach program developed by the Department of Classics at the University of Florida to introduce school-age children to Classics. The main goal is to emphasise the value of Classics and the practical skills it teaches by engaging students with hands-on exercises and materialising connections between the past and the present. The paper focuses on the importance of Classics and the humanities in the development of engaged citizens, the types of programs and their content, and ways to ensure the sustainability of such initiatives through the involvement of graduate students, faculty, and administrators.

In 2015, the Oregon Archaeological Society (OAS) presented statements to Oregon tribes and the Oregon Legislative Commission on Indian Services acknowledging the troubling history of OAS collecting activities and steps taken to transform the OAS, and sought guidance to address continuing tribal concerns. Tribes encouraged both the return of collections and increased public outreach efforts. Their guidance fueled increased effort by the Collection Recovery Committee (OASCRC), which has facilitated the return of five collections to tribal museums and university curation facilities and coordinated digital preservation of documents. The OAS may be the only avocational society in the United States actively engaged in such efforts, accomplished by a small group of volunteers. Case studies of collections, considerations involved in disposition, and the potential for repatriation and research are highlighted. The OAS seeks to halt dispersal and commodification of cultural objects and encourage academic research. Quick action can assure that the original collectors or descendants provide key site and location information. Educational opportunities can be rendered to the heritage community, and we are uniquely positioned to contribute to that service.

The Public Archaeology Facility's (PAF) Community Archaeology Program (CAP) at Binghamton University began 25 years ago in response to intense community interest in participating in archaeology. Although non-archaeologists have unlimited access to programming and social media about archaeology, there is more limited access to professionally supervised opportunities. PAF developed CAP to provide non-archaeologists with the opportunity to participate in highly supervised archaeological research projects to share in the process of discovery at the “trowel's edge.” CAP recognizes the challenges and critiques of community programs and mitigates these by creating a climate of ethical practice. Our goal is to educate individuals about the presence of a rich and fascinating past in their own communities and create the sweat equity that can result in advocates for preservation. We operate under the principles that the heritage story embedded in an artifact is worthy of our respect and protection, and that an educated public is more likely to support the preservation of this heritage. Making a connection to people through artifacts builds not only a deeper understanding of the past but also an empathy for preservation. In this article, we introduce the program and reflect on the 25-year history of CAP and future directions.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are undertaking a long-term, multiphase project to improve and rebuild Interstate 95 (I-95) in Pennsylvania, within the historic city of Philadelphia. Given the complex urban setting, the archaeological subsurface testing for the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Improvement Project is being guided by a programmatic agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. Through data-recovery excavations, the contractor for the project, AECOM, has documented 30 historical-period and Native American archaeological sites. The project includes its own professional journal, live interactive reporting, and a public archaeology center.

Both science public outreach and citizen science projects have gained immense momentum in the western world in recent years. This work aims to outline some ongoing and possible future projects in the developing world on this front. Cooperation and collaboration with IAU-OAD is envisaged.

Do you want to know how to make students volunteer to stay all night long watching the stars with their telescopes freezing? Or how to inspire decent adults to prepare a ‘queue-list to Jupiter’, wait for their turn for hours, and control that no one approaches the telescope bypassing the line? Or how to attract people of all age to forget their laziness and duties, and to get up at 3 a.m. to watch the transit of Venus? If your answer is ‘yes’, then come and see what can be done at the School Workshops on Astronomy.

Once data from a citizen-science program on light pollution is verified, what research projects, on-line analytical tools and tutorials should be developed, and what ways can results and acknowledgements be provided to the public? These and other questions are explored.

TV shows have the biggest impact for the public, so we can use them to inform and educate the public about light pollution and the importance of the dark sky for humanity and for the contemporary society. Some examples used in the TV show Us and the Sky at Columna TV, Romania, are presented.

Results of a survey assessing the impact on respondents and their students from the worldwide, citizen-science light pollution campaign called GLOBE at Night and the accompanying environmental-astronomy-based curricula called Dark Skies Rangers are presented.

With outdoor lighting ordinances in Arizona first in place around observatories in 1958 and 1972, then throughout the state since 1986, Arizonans have extensive experience working with communities and businesses to preserve our dark skies. Though communities are committed to the astronomy sector in our state, astronomers must collaborate with other stakeholders to implement solutions. Ongoing education and public outreach is necessary to enable ordinance updates as technology changes. Despite significant population increases, sky brightness measurements over the last 20 years show that ordinance updates are worth our efforts as we seek to maintain high quality skies around our observatories. Collaborations are being forged and actions taken to promote astronomy for the longer term in Arizona.

From the dawn of consciousness, humans have looked up and wondered about what the universe holds. It is that sense of wonder and thirst for knowledge that astronomy has helped fuel. In this paper we look at how education and public outreach has been a major element in preparing the next generation of astronomers and in sharing with the public the excitement of discoveries we make when we explore the Universe. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a clear set of goals and objectives related to education and public outreach. These goals follow directly from NASA's mission “to inspire the next generation of explorers”. Making progress towards achieving these goals has become an important part of the broad justification for public support of space science. Here we will describe a number of education and public outreach initiatives that are examples of the plethora of NASA funded programs and resources.

2009 is important for Astronomy in Spain, not just because of the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, but because of the beginning of the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS's operation. The Project ‘Consolider-Ingenio 2010: First Science with the GTC’, is a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science & Innovation (MICINN). For this project, it is fundamental that the GTC, a complex and expensive installation, produces science from the very beginning. One of the project objectives is Public Outreach and, in this paper we explain the outreach and education plans around the first science with the GTC.

On the night of the 20th of February 2008 there was a total eclipse of the moon visible from Mexico City, with a total duration from 19:42 hrs to 23:09 hrs. At the Instituto de Astronomía, UNAM, we took this opportunity to organise a massive astronomical party on the central plaza of the city, the Zocalo. Over a period of about 6 hrs. we set up a huge astro-party, with free use of over 100 telescopes, where we estimate over 40,000 persons looked through an astronomical telescope at the moon and Saturn, most for the first time in their lives. Numerous stands including a children's games, an Astronomy conference room, and the free distribution of Astronomical material were organised. Here we describe some of the issues associated with the planning and implementation of the event. Coordination issues were complex, involving interaction with divers and numerous authorities, city, national, police, traffic, medical assistance in readiness, aide from other universities, and amateur astronomical societies, which supplied most of the telescopes. An extensive publicity campaign was launched with several weeks of anticipation, and although we had no way of estimating the public response, we were ready with over 800 volunteers at the Zócalo on the 20th of February. The public response was massive and overwhelmingly positive, thousands swarmed the square in a completely peaceful and well organised interaction between Astronomy and society at large, over many complementary levels

As we celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, we have been working on four different projects with the goal of making astronomy more accessible to people with special needs. These projects are 1) an astronomy book and web site for blind people, 2) an open source software for people with motor disabilities, 3) a planetarium program for the visually impaired and 4) educational material for intellectually disabled people.

A campaign of the Star Week, set as August 1 – 7, has been started in 1995 throughout various life-learning facilities. Astronomical facilities including planetariums, science museums, and public observatories has been participating in this campaign, together with amateur astronomers clubs or private observatories. More than 300 astronomical events such as star watching parties were coordinated for general public every year. The Star Week has been grown up to one of the most successful campaigns not only for for astronomy but also for basic sciences in Japan over this 15 years. In this paper, a brief history and the present status of the Star Week are introduced together with the with some statistics.