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Tom R

Tom writes research-backed STEM content that explores what kids actually learn from robotics and math. He covers cognitive development studies, surprising math facts, and more. His approach blends scientific evidence with practical insights.

A Strip of Paper Can Have Only One Side

Cut a long strip of paper. Twist one end half a turn. Tape the ends together. You now have a Möbius strip, named after the German mathematician who studied it in 1858. Draw a line down the middle of the strip without lifting your pen. The line goes all the

What ten-year-olds know about fractions predicts their algebra grade at sixteen

Robert Siegler tracked 4,276 children for six years. The skill at age ten that predicted their algebra grade at sixteen wasn't IQ, working memory, or arithmetic. It was fractions. Most parents worry about times tables. They are worrying about the wrong thing.

The Maths Hiding in a Sunflower

The Maths Hiding in a Sunflower

A sunflower head holds up to 2,000 seeds, none sitting on top of another. The trick is an angle of 137.5 degrees, also used by pinecones, pineapples, hurricanes, and the spiral arms of galaxies. Maths is everywhere if you know where to look.

Twenty-three People Is Enough for a Shared Birthday

Twenty-three people in a room give you a coin flip on a shared birthday

AI Lets Adults Skip Work They Already Know. It Lets Children Skip Building It.

An adult who asks AI to summarise a long document is offloading a task the brain already knows how to do. A nine-year-old who asks AI to write a school story is offloading work the brain has not finished learning. The research is thin, but it points one way.

The Fraction Hiding in 142857

Type 1 ÷ 7 into a calculator. The screen fills with 0.142857142857, the same six digits cycling forever. Those digits appeared in an earlier article in this series, where 142857 was presented as a number that rearranges itself when multiplied. It was a fraction all along.

Why kids who argue with AI are building something the others aren't

MIT put 54 university students into three groups: ChatGPT users, search engine users, no tools. EEG caps throughout. By the third essay, the ChatGPT group had stopped writing and were asking the AI to do it. The implication for children is uncomfortable.