How Unicorns Were Made- Bias and Validity of Sources

In this lesson we discussed the origins of unicorns. This featured the effect of varied sources on the information we take in.

For instance, the unicorn may have been an African deer such as the Oryx. When early explorers saw the animals and brought back information to their homes, they explained they saw a horselike animal with one horn. Consequently, people conceived the idea of the unicorn.




We also discuss mermaids and manatees, as well as dragons and Komodo Dragons.

The student's job is to write the description of an animal, as though they had just seen it for the first time. They then describe it to other students without telling them its name, and the audience draws what the student describes.

The student then gets to see what they described, and announces what they animal was in hilarity.

This is a great lesson to discuss the validity of sources, and do people always remember things correctly? A good lesson to tie to forensics.