ABSTRACT: The Basic Space Sciences (BSS) and Astronomy and space sciences (AASS) are an important fields of research, study, knowledge and culture. They have been the cradle of both eastern and western sciences.

We all know, from education and psychology, about the effective teaching and learning of (BSS). Unfortunately, a small percentage of this knowledge is actually used in teaching at schools, universities level and any other academic institutions in the Arab countries. The challenge is to provide effective professional development for (BSS) educators and researchers at all levels, from elementary school to university.

(ASSS) is the most appealing subject to young students and very important tool to convey scientific knowledge? Once students have understood the importance of science, they might be more easily pursued to continue their education in science and technology. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of the formal and informal (AASS) research, and education, giving an example of a possible curriculum, projects, and comments of the experiences have been carried out in few Arab countries.

We feel the need of a new communication channel among Arab people based on our common scientific ground. (AASS) is, in this respect, the best choice that it is possible to identify in the vast cultural heritage of the Arab basin, the final purpose is scientific and economical ? Building a modern and good observatories in the region jointly by Arab astronomers and space scientists is essential and, will be an excellent step toward developing astronomy and astrophysics.

Introduction and Historical Background:
Astronomy has influenced the Arab history and culture, through its practical applications, and its philosophical and religious implications. This is reflected in calendars {Particularly the lunar calendar (the Hijra Months)}, mythology, and a variety of art forms. We know that astronomy was well advanced in Mesopotamia and Egypt, over the past 4000 years, have established in many aspects, in the birth and the growth of science and technology, in continuous interplay with religions, substantially influencing history. Every one knows the great achievements of the Arab and Muslim scientists in the field of astronomy, there fingerprints are still apparent in the Arabic names of the celestial bodies that are even now used in astronomical observations throughout the world.

i- During the period between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Arab astronomy was in a great positions and had very important achievements, marvelous and a great influence to other sciences. For examples: -

-The achievements of Arab astronomers and their discoveries in the field of planetary theories, which refer to the various constructions of geometric models that represented the modern of the celestial spheres and planets, it was very important episode of the history of sciences that has been studied ( Saliba, 1994) .

- In the area of computational mathematical astronomy, which called in that time alzyaj (sing.zij) (Kennedy 1956)

- In the area (sacred) astronomy, which covers problems related mostly to religious matters and is usually treated in the miqat (Time keeping) literature and engaged the most active astronomers of the that time (Ahmad 1995).

- In the topic of astronomical instruments. This field shows the most brilliant developments in Islamic instruments making during those centuries (King 1987 and 1988).

- In the institutions of astronomy, namely the most impressive observatories, which were developed during this period into veritable professional centers (Aydin 1960).

- Many famous and great astronomers have appeared during that time, such as AL-Kindy, Al-Battani, Ben Qurra, Ebn al - shater…. And many others, their names and contributions are fluorescent up to now (Said 1983)

ii- Because of the importance and the fast development of (AASS) in the world, we have to convince that, (AASS) should be established (in small or large scale) in each Arab countries and, to be included in the science curriculum of the schools and universities, as a track of increasing public knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of (AASS), as well as for educating scientists, engineers, teachers, researchers, and other science and technology personnel. There are many reasons {scientific, technological, educational and cultural } why (AASS) is useful, important and should be included in the school and university curriculum (Percy 1999) ,in the same time there are challenges to effective teaching and learning. (BSS) or any other subject can be taught, but there is no assurance that it will be learned (Baxter 1989, Nussbaum and Novak 1982, Sadler 1998,and Percy 1999). High school and undergraduate students, per-service teachers (Woodruff et al. 1999), and the general public (Schneps and sadler 1988) have deeply-rooted misconceptions about (BSS) topics: day and night, seasons, moon phases, celestial coordinate systems, eclipses, gravity, light, celestial motion and crescent visibility. Ahlgern (1996) and Sneider (1995) suggest strategies for teaching more effectively.

It is also important to relate the curriculum to local Arabic language, culture, historical background and other needs. This is true on all parts of the Arab countries, and helps to meet another important challenge: reaching the undeserved-women, minorities, and the economically disadvantaged. In many countries, the education system favors rote memorization of lecture or textbook material. While this "Classical" approach to teaching has some merit, it does not prepare students to develop new solutions, to new problems.

The problem is how to maintain the sense of awe and excitement which (AASS) can provide. The standard astronomy topics in the school curriculum are: day and night, seasons, moon phases, eclipses, tides, comets and planets. Students frequently ask about the peculiar celestial objects and sudden events (i.e. Comets, Eclipses, Supernova, Black holes …etc) and some times on the origin and fate of the universe, the origin of life…. etc.

The Importance of (AASS):

(AASS) is not a type of scientific and technological luxury in which mankind indulges or is being stimulated by mere curiosity and insistent desire to wards understanding the unknown of the universe and unveiling its secrets. In fact, these sciences have their direct applications, nowadays, in the various scientific and technological fields, including global techniques for ground-base astronomical and space observations, wireless communications, remote sensing of natural Earth resources using artificial satellites, the study of the environment and Earth bio-environment, as well as strategic and military applications and certain technologies that have recently been introduced and utilized on a wide scale. At the same time (AASS) applications are now common in other human aspects such as medicine, agriculture, industry, computers, image processing, energy…etc. The followings are reasons for the importance of teaching (AASS or BSS):-

1- Modern space and astronomical observing techniques take advantage of the use of the most frontier technologies. Exceptional technological developments have been encouraged by the needs of (BSS) or (AASS) research; many space ventures are based on and are aimed at astronomy. As a consequence of the critical reliability and sensitivity required to approach advanced problems, the cost of modern astronomy is difficult for single countries. Successful applications of the advancement related to (AASS) have found applications into many important sectors of civil life :

i- In general: optics, fiber- optics, electronics, laser technology, research with each or all the wavelength of electromagnetic spectrum, image analysis, telecommunications (Satellites), new technologies for space research, remote sensing and geographic information system for meteorology, atmospheric physics, physical oceanography, geoscience including the study of environment on land and in the seas, and the search for new natural resources use many of the techniques and types of instruments developed for (BSS) or (AASS).

ii- In particular: (AASS) has practical applications to navigation, time-keeping, calendars, climate, for the Islamic sharea (i.e., fixing the beginning of the Hijra months (Lunar Months)), calculating the Islamic praying times (which depends on the sun set and sun rise), finding the Qibla direction for the use of praying from any place on earth) and other external influences on our environment.

2- (AASS) based on advanced physics, mathematics, sciences and technology and has a great influence on the personal mind and thinking toward the modern science and technology, this will lead to harnesses curiosity, imagination and sense of shared exploration and discovery.

3- (AASS) attracts young people to science and technology and will keep the Arab countries on track with scientific innovations and technological know-how in these countries.

4- (AASS) deals with Earth in time and space and with our cosmic roots: the origin of the sun, earth, the elements in the human bodies and the life itself.

5- (AASS) reveals a universe that is vast, varied and beautiful. Unlike most sciences astronomy can be enjoyed as a hobby.

6- (AASS) an interdisciplinary subject, it will add to tertiary education in the physical sciences such as chemistry, geology, and physics. (McNally 1999) defined two key areas where (AASS) can introduce highly significant area within the teaching of the physical sciences:

i- The interaction of matter and radiation.
ii- The nature of information in signals.

(AASS) forces education in physical sciences away from the introspection of science for its own sake and towards science as a practical and useful tool.

Besides the importance of teaching (AASS) in schools and universities there are many problems with teaching such as:

a-Teachers not necessarily have a good background in (BSS) teaching . They have studied astronomy in very simple manner with small quantities of information's or they have not studied (AASS) at all.

b-Women usually do not get enough formal training, in consequence they cannot help their children with their scientific assignments. They do not have experience with observations, because them is not allowed to go observatory in the night time (There are many restrictions).

c- Some teachers are afraid to say, " I do not know " and forget that science is build on what we ignore. Some time they answer the student questions in wrong way, or they give wrong informations.

d- Teachers believe that, they need expensive materials such as, advanced (BSS) laboratories, telescopes, planetarium, communication systems, satellite stations …etc in order to teach (AASS).

e- Students have misconceptions about the topics of (AASS) and teachers, usually not been trained to discover them.

We feel (AASS) can be a mind broadening experience, it can convey scientific knowledge in a way that can be attractive to basic school level students and to the undergraduate & postgraduate students.

It is very important to encourage astronomers, space physicists, researchers and teachers to do research and / or teach (AASS) only if they feel comfortable with the subject, otherwise those who teach might confuse the students leading to an inadequate outcome. It is very important to give women a chance to receive formal education, to go for observatories and stay for couple of nights in observatory.

Summary for (BSS /AASS) activities in few Arab countries as an example

We will summarize the (BSS) or (AASS) activities in few Arab countries, such as: Egypt, Iraq and Jordan's who have these activities in different categories and levels, other countries they have less activities and some of them do not have at all.

1- Egypt: (AASS) in Egypt is distributed in the following organizations.

- Research and postgraduate studies are carrying out in the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (In Hellwan city). In the Kottamia observatory operates 2M optical telescope with UBVIR photometer, spectrograph and CCD camera. The observatory was build in the 1963.This telescope is the largest optical/infrared telescope in North Africa and the Middle East.The Carl Zeiss company was recently contracted to modernize the optical system of this telescope (Deebes & Heileman 1999).

The Institute has a plan of building a radio telescope at Abu Simbel in the South of Egypt as part of the European VLBI Network (EVN) to cover the gap between the radio telescope in the Western Europe and the radio telescope at Hartebeesthoek in South Africa, (Shaltout 1999).

- Teaching & training of (AASS) are given in few universities particularly in Cairo University, which has a good astronomy department including undergraduate and postgraduate studies contributes in different fields of (AASS), besides there is one or two astrophysical courses in physics department.

- In the schools, there is a general course in astronomy mainly in the most secondary schools of Egypt.

2- Iraq: The Iraq astronomers and space scientists are started with very good and healthy direction for establishing and developing (AASS) in 1980. They build an Iraqi computerized observatory in the Northern part of Iraq " The Iraqi National Astronomical Observatory" which contained:-

- LOT" Large Optical Telescope " of 3.5M reflector with IR & UBVIR photometers and different types of spectrographs like Echelle, Code, and Nasmyth .

- SOT " Small optical telescope" of 1.5M reflector with different type of spectrographs and photometers with many auxiliaries for both SOT & LOT telescopes.

- MRT " 30M mm Radio telescope" with receiver system plus its Auxiliaries. (The observatory build by Joint Venture of three German Companies SEIZZ, MAN and KRUPP, the cost was 150×106 U.S $ (1980 price). The observatory built on the top of High Mountain of 2200 meter above sea level with very good observational site less than 0,01 arcsec seeing conditions (Al-Naimiy 1986). But unfortunately this observatory has been damaged during the two wars (1980 and 1991). Any way, nowadays (AASS) is distributed in Iraq on the following organizations:-

- Space Research Center: Connected to the Scientific Research Council in Baghdad. The main research programs are: Remote sensing, wave propagation, communications, and astronomy.

- There are courses of astronomy and astrophysics in physics departments, in the most of the Iraqi universities, while in university of Baghdad (college of science), there is good astronomy department, established in 1998, for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in (AASS), in the same time it has as small observatory " Al-Battani Observatory" contains two telescopes: 40cm reflector and 20cm refractor, they purchased from the Japanese Goto company. The observatory is located in Tarmia city, about 50km from Baghdad.

- In secondary schools, there are small general topics about astronomy, included in physics courses, (day & night, moon-earth system, solar system, stars) distributed in different school level.

- Regarding the popularization of astronomy there are few small astronomical clubs & planetariums in youth ministry besides, from time to time there is TV programs about special subject in (AASS).

3- Jordan : Research, teaching and popularization of (AASS) is very good nowadays in Jordan if we compare it with most of the Arabs countries. It is distributed as follows:

3-1 Universities: There is an astronomy and astrophysical courses given for undergraduate student in physics departments in more than 5 universities, but the main (AASS) activities are concentrated in the Al al-Bayt University.(http://alalbayt.aabu.edu.jo) This university managed to establish in 1994, the Institute of Astronomy and Space Science (IASS), which contains:-

a- M.Sc research projects and curricula in the following directions:

- Astronomy and Astrophysics.
- Space Sciences.
- Remote Sensing (Science and Technology).
- Environment and Water Resources.

b-: Maragha Astronomical Observatory (MAO):-which contains a 40cm Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain optical telescope ,and CCD camera (Pictor 1616).

c-: Scientific Activities in AASS Fields :-Beside a few national meetings, IASS managed to organize two international meeting: -

c-1 The First International Conference was held at the IASS of the Al al-Bayt University in Mafraq, Jordan 4-6 May 1998. The conference attended by more than 50 astronomers and space scientists from 18 countries: Algeria, Australia, Belgium, England, France, Germany (UN), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, and USA. http://www.seas.columbia.edu/~ah297/un-esa/ws1998-jordan-astronomy.html

The program of this Conference included presentations on

i- The Earth environment.
ii- The solar system.
iii - The Sun.
iv- Star formation and binary stars.
v. Cosmology.
vi- Missions to the universe. The proceeding for the conference, have been published by AL al-Bayt University press (Al-Naimiy & Kandalyan 2000).

C-2- IASS Hosted the 8th UN/ESA workshop: Scientific Exploration from Space, which organized by UN, ESA and the Government of Jordan at Al al-Bayt University, in Mafraq, Jordan, from 13-17 March 1999. More than 120 astronomer's, scientists and students of basic space sciences from 35 countries attend the workshop. http://www.seas.columbia.edu/~ah297/un-esa/activities-html#1999

The proceeding for the workshop will be published as a volume of Astrophysics & Space Science Journal.

3-2 Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (AUASS) (http://www.jas.org.jo/union.html): This union established in 1998 as an outcome of the second Arab Conference on (AASS), held in Amman Jordan during 29th August- 1st of September 1998. The participants were more than 100 astronomers & scientist from 14 Arab countries, in addition to observers from France, Italy and USA, were present. The participants decided to establish the union and its head quarter to be in Amman. The aim of the union is to develop (AASS) in the Arab countries through conferences, meeting, publication, joint research projects…etc with the cooperation of the International (AASS) institutions.

3-3 Jordanian Astronomical Society (JAS), (http://www.jas.jo/) : It is an organization that popularizes amateur and some times professional (AASS). Founded in Amman September 1987 and its headquarters at Haya Cultural (http://www.arabist.com/jo/hayacenter/index.html) since then, JAS promoting (AASS) not only throughout Jordan but also to the rest of Arab world, it has more than 250 members. JAS popularization of (AASS) as an aid for education and developments in universities, schools, public (Educational Television, Radio programs & Hot line), planetarium, public lectures…etc. It has good observing program in Al-Azraq camp for astronomical events: comets, meteor showers, lunar & solar eclipses…etc.

d- ICOP Project: Aims to gather a largest possible number of lunar observers worldwide. This for the predicting the visibility of the young crescent moon which takes the most important applications of astronomy in Islamic world (to be used for fixing the beginning of the Islamic Holly Lunar months) (http://www.jas.org.jo/icop.html). ICOP supervised by a committee from AUASS, IASS & JAS called "Crescents' Observation and Mawaqeet committee. Their members are from different part of the world in general , and from Islamic countries in particular http://www.jas.org.jo/comc.html

e- Teaching of (AASS) in Jordanian schools: Most of the general astronomy courses given in different level of secondary schools. The courses contain general information's about: Earth - Moon system, day & night, seasons, solar system, stars, clusters, the Milky way, galaxies & finally the universe.

3-4 An important decision have been made by UN, that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has been selected to host a (Regional Center for (BSS) and Technology Education in Western Asia), this will be an excellent move toward developing (AASS) in the Arab countries.

Suggestions for developing (AASS) in Arab World As we know that there is much less of (AASS) in other Arabic countries than above, and there are non-in many others Therefore we have to convince these countries about the importance of (AASS) and they should do like what Jordan doing at least, they have to be a member in AUASS. For all Arab countries, it is necessary to take into account the following suggestions:

I- (AASS) Popularization's: The popularization's should include some of the following:

- It is necessary for Arab countries to have books in (AASS) at all levels written in Arabic language. The examples must deal with the local culture and present role models. This should be made by establishing a translation program for (AASS) from English or other languages into Arabic.

- Magazines on education are extremely important because they provide access to up dated (AASS) information, particularly those are detected teachers. It is necessary to have magazines on popular science for all age levels, including children (Magazines like Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, Mercury..etc), it is necessary to be edited in Arabic language.

- Planetariums: It is very important for each Arab country to have a planetarium with suitable size, or even a portable one.

- Public lectures and workshops: These two activities are extremely popular and useful because they promote several pedagogical qualities.

- Other activities: such as: Newspaper articles, Educational TV, Radio programs and Hot line, Museums, software's and computers, summer schools & meetings …etc, all are very important for popularization of (AASS) (Fierro 1999).

II- (AASS) Curriculum: There should be very good (AASS) curriculum in the Arab countries, to be prepared for different levels according to ages {School, Academic Institute and University level}. This was stated by (Percy 1999, Percy & Matti 1999). We suggest a committee, its members are, astronomers and space scientists from different Arab countries with the cooperation of International astronomers and space scientists. The duty of this committee is to write the curriculum, and suggest practical recommendations for the development of (AASS).

III-Cooperation: Enhancing (AASS) in Arab countries requires cooperation among many Arab universities & organizations in particular, and with International institutions in general. Because we all know that, establishing good (AASS) in any region can not be done without strong cooperation between parties. In Arab countries everything for (AASS) development is available (such as budget, personal …etc) the only think in missing is the cooperation and scientific supports from International organization & scientist.

IV-Building a modern and good observatories in the region jointly by Arab astronomers and scientists is essential and, will be an excellent step toward developing astronomy and astrophysics, particularly when the observatory contain a modern size optical telescope with its auxiliaries, beside a millimeter radio telescope to be part of any International VLBI system. Keeping in mind there is very good sites in different part of Arab countries, particularly in those places were observations can be made to both, Southern & Northern parts of sky. It might be very useful if the observatory comes through AUASS scheme (Al-Naimiy & Konsul, 2000). It is very useful to Arab astronomers to have a look and get an idea about Querci proposal for NORT Project (Querci 1998a, b, c, 1999a,b) or projects like MAN 2000 a proposal for regional project for Mediterranean astronomy. (Ferrini 1999).

Acknowledgements

It is my pleasure to acknowledge stimulating comments and discussions from professor Hans Haubold during the preparation of this paper. I would also like to thank Dr. Rafik Kandalyan who has given his attention to go through the paper.

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