Crow Scientist is Live

For years, I’ve been fascinated by crow behavior, and now I have something to show for it. It’s the free app that shows kids how to observe crows the way a scientist does, and for this project I had the pleasure of working with John & Colleen Marzluff. It was a real treat to learn about crows from the experts. We talked for the first time in May, and the app is done already, with Karen Lewis’s art and all. We need feedback from players, and we need 5-star reviews. Here’s a link to the official Crow Scientist page.

The app naturally relates to my overall goal of teaching evolution science to children. Specifically, it teaches two important lessons about natural selection. First, what allows animals to survive is their behaviors. Kids observe crows and note their behaviors on checklists. Second, animals have lots of offspring, most of which die. One checklist is for breeding season observations, including young crows ending up killed. 

Doing the heavy lifting for the app was David Marques, who also published Clades Solo. He’s a creative partner as well as the programmer, and he added a wonderful feature to the app: you can add in your own photos of the behaviors you see. I’ve started adding my own photos, and it’s silly how fun it is. Players can even submit their photos to Phosphorlearn for possible use in the app. 

Kids can also submit their crow art, which the Lead Crow Scientist will post on Instagram. That’s Colleen Marzluff. She’s passionate about kids, nature, and science. You can submit art on the Phosphorlearn page or contact Colleen directly on Instagram.