• Author, consultant, researcher Tom O'Brien (Tobbs), is
  professor emeritus in mathematics education, Southern Illinois
  University.
  
  
• His work in education is three-fold: teacher education,
  curriculum development, and research on children's thinking.
  
  
• As a researcher, he has studied the growth of mathematical
  ideas in subjects from preschool to medical school and law school.
  As a teacher, he has worked with pupils from preschool through
  graduate school and for more than twenty years he was the director
  of the Teachers' Center Project, a project widely regarded as the
  foremost approach to in-service teacher education in the country.
  As a curriculum developer, he has authored more than fifty books
  for children, in addition to having written and edited some eighty
  papers on children's thinking and education published through the
  Teachers' Center Project.
  
  
• In addition, Dr. O'Brien has published and delivered some 450
  papers on children's thinking, mathematics education, intellectual
  development and educational change. His presentations and
  seminars have taken place in the USA, Canada, Brasil, UK, Italy,
  France, Holland, Switzerland, Hungary, and the Republic of South
  Africa.
  
  
• He was named a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
  Senior Research Fellow in Science in 1978, a position involving
  collaboration with Prof dr Hans Freudenthal at IOWO, University of
  Utrecht.
  
  
• Prizewinning computer software designed by O'Brien for
  Sunburst Communications include Safari Search, Teasers by Tobbs,
  King's Rule, Puzzle Tanks, and Blockers and Finders.
  
  
• O'Brien's books have been published in the US, UK, Brasil,
  Germany, Netherlands and Australia. Discussions are underway for
  publication in the People’s Republic of China.
  
  
• In the US, his book titles are Daily Tantalizers Books 1-8
  (Problem of the Day), VersaTiles® for Problem Solving, Middle
  Grades VersaTiles® for Critical-Thinking published by
  ETA/Cuisenaire, and Off the Path Math, published by FableVision.
  
  
• In spring 2003, O'Brien resumed publishing software. The first
  three of a proposed dozen products for the Palm PDA, Find It!,
  Treasure Hunt, and Mystery Three, are available for purchase and
  tryout at Handango.com with site licenses for school or school
  system use available from O’Brien directly at tobrien001@earthlink.net.
  
  
• And in spring 2006, Mission Maths, a board game for children,
  was published by BEAM (Be a Mathematician), London.
  
  
• In 2007 he published widely-heralded articles on the “math
  wars” in the February 28 issue of Education Weekly and the May
  issue of Phi Delta Kappan. And his casual game “Spy Wear” was
  mounted on Shockwave.com.
  
  
• In July 2007, after 37 years of blissfully nutrified life in St.
  Louis, Tobbs and Gail (Dr, Gail Marshall) moved to Walnut Creek CA
  to be near their grand-daughter Molly Kahane O’Brien and her
  parents, who live in Berkeley.
  
  
• And after the move Tom continues his work with
  children—research on logical and mathematical thinking—which has
  been underway for five years and which has produced stunning
  results published in the USA and Europe, his writing, and his
  software development.
  
  
• O’Brien received his bachelor's degree from Iona College, his
  master’s degree from Teachers College/Columbia University and his
  Ph.D. from New York University.