Houston, TX – In a study likely to make school janitors cringe, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday that chewing gum may boost academic performance in teenagers.
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Many U.S. schools ban chewing gum because children often dispose of the sticky chaw under chairs or tables.
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, which is now a part of Mars.
Leveille said Wrigley has gotten feedback from many of its gum customers who say chewing gum helps them stay focussed.
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 found no difference in math scores between the two groups in another test called the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement. However, the gum-chewers did get better final grades in the class than their non-chewing peers.
Another Wrigley-funded study found that college students in a lab who were given difficult computer tasks had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol when they were chewing gum compared to when they were not.
Leveille said he thinks chewing gum helps reduce stress so students can do their best work. And while he is aware that many schools have a dim view of students chewing gum in class, he hopes the findings may change that a bit.
“It’s not a matter of chewing. It’s a matter of gum disposal,” Leveille said, adding that that can be overcome by teaching proper disposal behaviours.
If that fails, he quipped, “We’ll have to provide the janitors with scrapers.”
If you want to raise math scores there are more important things to correct:
1) Hire competent math teachers. A math teacher should:
a. Love math himself
b. Have high expectations of his students
c. Not skip THEORY when he teaches
d. Give ENOUGH practice problem sets. Ignore those new “studies” which allow for fewer practice problems. Have the kids do ALL the problems in the book. Why do YOU think the author put them there?
e. Grade realistically, not optimistically.
f. DO NOT pass a student on to the next class who does not have the necessary skills to progress in the next class!!!!!
g. Go the extra mile to see that the kids DO learn what they need.
2) Hire administrators who would support the above.
3) Fire ALL elementary school teachers who did not get a B or better in Calculus. They tend to be math haters who TEACH their fear of math to their small students. They do not do this intentionally, but the kids sense their displeasure when they pull out that math book.
Yes, I know this would empty our schools of teachers… LOL … but it is an ideal to dream of.
Parents, here is a way to test a math teacher:
Ask him/her what is means when he says “Division by Zero is UNDEFINED”
If he says it is just a rule or law of mathematics and can’t explain it….. OY!
8th grade Algebra I students should be able to do this by the end of the school year:
“Derive the Quadratic Formula by Completing the Square”
If a student cannot do this, he/she has not mastered Algebra I ….. period.
I don’t care what foolish standardized tests the kids can ace at the end of 8th grade. If they can’t Derive the Quadratic Formula by Completing the Square, they have not mastered Algebra I, and are not ready for Algebra II.
If they tell you “We do that in Algebra II” … or … “We don’t do that, it confuses the kids” you now know better.
High school math teachers should be talking about the kids’ taking Calc BC in 12th grade…. and planning for it.
Sure, some will not be able to make it, and will settle for AB. That is okay.
But, when they shoot for AB, most do not even get to Limits.
And, remember, without at least Calc AB, the kids will NOT be able to take and do well, in any University level Physics course. “Physics without Calculus” is like learning Gemara from a gemara with nekudos, and the Rashi in “regular” type, or something equally dorky.
Just like learning a blatt gemara means at a minimum Rashi, Toispos, Maharshu and Maharam, Physics requires Calculus.
Many of the better colleges have College Chem as a prereq for Bio, and Calculus as a prereq for Chem.
Even if your son/daughter wants a buisness major, any decent MBA program requires Calculus. Any decent Statistics course has Calculus as a prereq.
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GUM?????? Who cares.
Let me get this straight. A gum company did a study and found that chewing gum helps improve math scores. Sounds a little sticky to me.
#1 you sound like a competent teacher and may you have alot of hatzlocha teaching our future.
Hi all:
Actually, there is at least some truth to this practice, and there is a neurological basis to it.
The chewing is applying what is called “pressure”, or deep pressure, and it helps to regulate the sympathetic nervous system so that the brain can focus better.
Occupational Therapists often advise this as treatment to help ADHD children in school.
But this response:
) Fire ALL elementary school teachers who did not get a B or better in Calculus
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This person would end up firing all the rabbinic instructors!
“The study was funded by chewing gum maker Wrigley. “
Has anyone other than a chewing gum maker ever come out with a study mentioning any positive aspects of gum chewing? At least they used sugarless gum. Sugarless gum is not without its dangers though. If a person has mercury fillings in their mouth, chewing gum for long periods of time will greatly increase the amount of mercury released from the fillings and that is absorbed by the body.
Singapore has made chewing gum illegal. I wonder if it is illegal in any other countries? chewing gum causes plenty of damage to shoes, clothing, sidewalks, furniture, etc. when disposed of improperly.
chewing gum helps me relieve my stress without having to smoke,eat my nales,chew my coffee cups,spoons etc.and concentrate better on the gemara.and i throw my gum in the garbage wrapped in its wrapper.There’s nothing wrong with gum
they also have funded studies for weight loss programs. chew gum, lose weight
Singapore now allows the purchase of medicinal gum such as Nicorette by those who have a prescription.
Scholar, I hope you don’t chew gum with sugar, as this is very damaging for teeth. I also hope that you don’t have any mercury(silver colored) dental fillings, as chewing gum greatly increases the amount of mercury they release and that is absorbed by the body. Some have claimed that the activity of chewing causes the release of digestive enzymes, and those who chew plenty of gum might not release enough digestive enzymes while they are eating.
You have a problem with high school math teachers? wait until you take a calculus or physics class in a major university with someone who does not know English! then you may appreciate your high school teacher who got a B in calculus.
that most of you guys are parents who have nothing better to do; it does help, although my math teacher does not let me chew any but when i take the FCAT (florida comprehensive assesment test) i sneak in gum, and most of you guys are saying well study more blahblah, but i have dislexia and adhd. simple things like this really do help. in this day in age everyone needs every advantage they can in school bc it is getting so competitive, i go to stanton college prep its the 5th best oublic school in the us, and i am not in the ib program, but i take all advanced classes. and if your friends all make 92s on the test and you dont your looked at as stupid. so if i were to chew gum, id have that much more advantage.