I read newspaper almost everyday and when I'm flipping through the pages an article caught my attention from Out of this World section of Manila Bulletin April 29, 2009 issue. The article is taken from Reuters.
The article with a title of " Chewing gum may raise math grades " it says here that there is a study conducted by United States researchers said chewing gum may boost academic performance in teenagers. Huh! Really??
This is an excerpt from the article:
But a team led by Craig Johnston at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that students who chewed gum during math class had higher scores on a standardized math test after 14 weeks and better grades at the end of the term than students in the class who did not chew gum. The study was funded by chewing gum maker Wrigley.
"For the first time we've been able to show in a real-life kind of situation that students did perform better when they were allowed to chew," said Gil Leveille, executive director of the Wrigley Science Institute, a research arm of Wm Wrigley Jr Co, which is now a part of Mars Inc.
Leveille said Wrigley has gotten feedback from many of its gum customers who say chewing gum helps them stay focused.
So, four years ago the company started the science institute to see if some of these claims have merit.
The researchers at Baylor studied four math classes or 108 students aged 13 to 16 years old from a Houston, Texas, charter school that serves mostly low-income Hispanic students.
About half got free Wrigley's sugar-free gum to chew during class, homework and tests. They chewed at least one stick of gum 86 percent of the time they were in math class and 36 percent of the time they were doing homework.
The other half went without.
After 14 weeks, the gum chewers had a three percent increase in their math scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills achievement test, a small but statistically significant change, according to Johnston and colleagues, who presented their findings at the American Society for Nutrition scientific meeting in New Orleans.
They should have done this study long time ago. I could have save myself back in High School. I remember I was kicked out in my physics class because my teacher caught me chewing a gum. I could have reasoned out like this " Ma'am don't you know that chewing a gum may boost student's math performance." Nah! She won't probably buy it, actually it was my fault. I blew my gum and my teacher was irritated for the popping sound I caused.
If I had known this that chewing gum may raise my math grades, for sure there's always a gum stuck in my tongue. I might have topped the class and most probably I have scored high in my most favorite math subject. Just kidding.... I never liked math subjects as I was in school because I'm not good in numbers. Numbers made me sick. That's why I took up medical degree in college to stay away from math computation.
What if the idea of chewing a gum in class is allowed, how would the teachers react to the picture of teaching in front of students chewing a gum like goat at the same time popping sound everywhere. He he he.. How funny! Well, for teenagers it'll be cool. At the end of the day, our school janitors would be a little bit be burdened by removing sticky gums under the tables and chairs. Kids out there dispose your gum properly. Right!
So, when you're chewing a gum, let's say just I'm boosting my math performance.
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