USE OF THE ‘HOLLOW EARTH THEORY' TO TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO CRITICALLY EVALUATE THEORIES

Students often struggle in their ability to understand and evaluate the key steps in the development of hypotheses and scientific theories. Student willingness to learn about the scientific method, and about evolutionary theory specifically, may be tempered by religious beliefs, which may predispose students to resist learning. I have used variations on the approach presented here in Science Education and Introductory Geology classes.

After an in-class activity and mini-lecture on the scientific method, I present the students with Raymond Bernard's version of ‘The Hollow Earth Theory' (The Hollow Earth, 1969, University Press, 254 pages). I provide them with a diagram, and I summarize the model (a hollow earth with an internal ‘sun', openings at the poles, inhabited by ‘advanced life'). I also summarize the ‘evidence' for the hollow earth, which includes: Admiral Byrd's Antarctic exploration reports, the ‘fact' that UFOs and flying saucers have north-south flight paths because they are travelling from one entrance to another, and that aurora borealis and aurora australis are a consequence of the light from the ‘internal sun' escaping from the polar entrances to hollow earth.

Students are typically amused and incredulous that I am telling them about something they ‘know' not to be true. The advantages of using such an absurd example are multifold: 1. It is unlikely to challenge their religious or other personal beliefs, and thus frees them to enter into vigorous debate; 2. It forces the students to grapple with how they know what they know, the distinction between facts and interpretations, and in the importance of formulating and testing hypotheses. 3. It allows them to better distinguish between beliefs and scientific theories. 4. Student understanding of theories is much improved when they have actively engaged in discussion; students appear to be more receptive to discussion of evolutionary theory when their understanding of the place and development of scientific theories is already established. I conclude the module with a simple exercise / worksheet that makes it absolutely clear that the Hollow Earth Theory is NOT a scientific theory, and has no basis in fact.