“ Chewing Gum And Learning Are Linked” - H. Bernard Wechsler

Teachers have a 'thing' about chewing gun in class - it freaks them out. They never think ahead - that when the dam bursts - the gum can be used to occlude the cracks and save us all. Just kidding. Chewing gum is a learning-tool - as real as a big, red, juicy apple.

If you want to seriously improve your memory up to 28%, improve your IQ about 15 points, and concentrate like Al Einstein... Did you know that Al was a lifelong 'dyslexic', and was totally frustrated by reading because his brain reversed words and spelling? Dyslexia taught Einstein to rely on his 'imagination' - the right-brain.

Everything good happens from the physiological change of chewing gum - more oxygen, more glucose (body-and-mind fuel), and disposal of more CO2 - (the debris and toxins that harm our blood vessels and immune system).

To access your memory and concentration - become a master- learner ...Chew Gum. What happens is that the act of chewing speeds up your heartbeat and blood pressure just enough to wake up both left-and right hemispheres to get "in-sync", to work together.

Who Says So? The original research began in 2001 and made it to the major- leagues in the following year at the University of Northumbria in Great Britain. The lead-researcher is professor Andrew Scholey who used control-groups for his experiments. Later research using fMRIs (brain scans), reinforced his conclusions.

How Does it Work? It turns out that the chewing-action creates a bodily (mouth and jaw) rhythm which the brain copies - so that mind-and-body get into 'entrainment' - (in-sync).

What happens next is that "insulin" starts flowing because mind-and-body are fooled into expecting real-food coming to the stomach - not just the saliva produced by the chewing-action.

The first discovery was that there are 'insulin' receptors (catch-basins), on both the left and the right hemispheres (cerebral cortex). When the insulin pops into the grooves of the left-and-right brains - they excite the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex into cognitive-activity. In plain English - not neuroscience - our attention (concentration), memory, and comprehension, kick into gear and boost our learning-skills.

Who knew!? And it freshens your breath! !!GUM BAN AT COLQUITZ!! Imagine that our school is considering a ban on gum. Write a persuasive paragraph, (with at least 6 sentences) using the info and facts provided to justifying your opinion on the topic. Ensure your paragraph has strong topic, supporting, concluding sentences & transitions.

Remember the writing process! Do a rough copy of the paragraph and then show Mr B for more feedback. Then complete a good copy final copy. You will be graded on the following criteria provided on the board. Y P O C

H G U O R Y P O C

D O O G