wentzel developed an astronomy course for college students who would not be majoring in a science. this course at one time attracted over 3000 students per year at the university of maryland. as part of this course, he developed student activities based on astronomical photographs. he stimulated similar courses nationally and internationally, supporting the teaching of astronomy as a medium for science education in scientifically developing countries. on behalf of the international astronomical union, he organized and/or participated as faculty of eight international schools for young astronomers, supervised a visiting-lecturer program in peru and paraguay, and helped to develop astronomy in china, egypt, india, indonesia, vietnam, iran, vietnam, morocco, central america, malaysia, romania, sri lanka, and the philippines. in 1975 wentzel received the teaching of science award by the washington academy of sciences.