Recently, a study has shown that chewing gum in class helps reduce stress, improve alertness and relieve anxiety for students, and thus improves math scores.
Researchers at the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston tested 108 students, between the ages of 13 to 16, 52 girls and 56 boys, who were assigned to two groups, either chew sugar-free gum during math class, while doing math homework and during math tests or to refrain from gum-chewing.
After 14 weeks, the students' took a math test and their grades were assessed and those who had chewed gum showed a 3% increase in their scores, while their final grades were also "significantly better" than non-chewers.
The study was sponsored by the Wrigley Science Institute , which is part of the Wrigley Gum company.
The results of the study, by Craig Johnston, PhD, said:
"Some researchers speculate that a decreased level of stress leads to better focus and concentration, which may explain the relationship between gum chewing and increased focus and concentration." He adds that the study "demonstrates the potential benefits of chewing gum on academic performance in a real-life, classroom setting with teenagers."
The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology 2009, in New Orleans.
Reference:
Chewing gum raises kids' math scores, Los Angeles Times
Chewing gum may raise math grades in teens, Reuters
Math + Chewing Gum = Better Grades?, WebMD.com
Miao Girl, by mooney47
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