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Verve’s Make Your Own Gum Kit is an excellent tool for teachers
and group leaders, suitable for use in the classroom as well as
informal learning environments. To make group activities easier
and more productive, we have created this Educational Guide to
the Make Your Own Gum Kit.
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1.
Guide to using the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit with a group
Verve’s Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit can be a terrific,
interactive classroom activity for a wide range of ages and
class sizes. We provide a sample lesson plan intended for grades
6 – 8, but the kit may be used with children from age 5 up, with
adult supervision. It has also been used to great effect with
high school home economics classes and college science classes
as a fun end-of-term project.
The Chewing Gum Kit relates to many topics, including rainforest
ecology, social sciences, botany, geography, and more. We
recommend using the kit in conjunction with our sample lesson
plan, or creating your own lesson plan from the resources
provided. To view the instructions and story that come with the
kit, go to the Make Your Own Gum Kit main page. You may also
find the story The Sticky History of Chewing Gum (in our
Education Section) and the essays
The Gleeful Truth About
Chicle and Sustainability and
Rooting for the
Rainforest (in our
About Us section) to be helpful.
Because this activity requires heat, a stove or microwave is
required. You will also need a cutting board (or other flat
surface that can get dirty), spoons, pot holder, and a rolling
pin or glass bottle.
The Gum Kit makes approximately 30 – 50 sticks of gum, depending
how it is cut, so it is plenty for groups of up to 30 students.
We recommend that the teacher or group leader heat the gum base
and allow the students to help stir, knead and cut the gum.
Older students may be allowed to work in groups to make the gum
themselves, if appropriate.
2. Sample Lesson Plan for the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit
Grade Level:
6 - 8
Suggested Subject(s):
Science/Ecology, Social Science, Economics
Duration:
Introduction: Flexible – 15 minutes or more
Movie: 18 minutes (optional, see Resources for more information)
Gum-Making Activity: 20 minutes
Clean-up and Assesment: 10 minutes
Description:
Students will learn about the rainforest and the people who
inhabit it as they make a special treat – chewing gum! - with
natural chicle harvested from rainforest trees.
Goals:
1) Students will learn about the location, climate and ecology
of the rainforest.
2) Students will understand that many products come from the
rainforest.
3) Students will learn about people who live in the rainforest
and how they make a living.
4) Students will discover why it is important to protect our
rainforests.
Objectives:
1) Students will make their own chewing gum from raw
ingredients.
2) Students will make connections between the rainforest and
their own lives.
Materials:
1) World map
2) Images of the rainforest, its flora and fauna, etc.
3) Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit
4) Rolling Pin or bottle
5) Microwave or stove
6) A clean non-stick surface such as a cutting board
7) A few plastic spoons to stir with
8) Short documentary film “El Chicle” (optional, see Resources
for more information)
9) DVD player and TV (optional)
Vocabulary:
Chicle - The natural sap of the Sapodilla tree, which grows in
the rainforests of Central America
Chiclero – A person who harvests chicle by tapping the trees,
much like one “taps” a maple tree for maple syrup.
Slash-and-burn Agriculture - The practice of cutting down and
burning rainforest trees to clear space in which to plant crops.
This practice results in the destruction of the rainforest, and
yields such poor soil for agriculture that not much can grow.
Procedure:
Begin by talking about the rainforest. Make sure to cover where
rainforests are located, the climate, the diversity of the
species that live there, and the many uses for rainforest
products in goods like medicines, rubber, and food. Explain how
the rainforests are being rapidly depleted through logging and
slash-and-burn agriculture. Highlight the dangers of losing this
valuable ecosystem. Feel free to use our website as well as the
linked sites as resources for more information.
Next you can discuss peoples who live in the rainforest and the
difficulties they face there in making a living. Explain how
these people need a source of income that does not harm the
environment in which they live. Tell your students about the
chicleros and their traditional harvesting methods of the
Sapodilla tree, methods which do not harm the trees and allow
them to be tapped year after year. One option is to show the
short documentary film “El Chicle” about the harvest of chicle
in Mexico. ( Please note: this film contains subtitles, and is
not recommended for grades lower than 6. See Resources for
further details.)
Explain to your students that the rainforest is the source for
something they like to eat – chewing gum. Tell them that they
are going to see how chewing gum is made from raw ingredients
like chicle from the Sapodilla tree. Explain that the other
ingredients – sugar and corn syrup – are also harvested from
plants, and that these plants grow in the US. Explain how all of
their food products come from different countries. If you have
time to research in advance, you can even mark places on a large
world map showing where different products are grown or
produced, and the trade routes they use to get to us in the US.
Now, have the students use the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit to
make chewing gum! First, make sure to show the kids all of the
raw ingredients so they understand what is going into their
chewing gum. These kits require a stove or microwave, so for
younger students, it is best if the teacher does the first steps
requiring heat, then divides up the gum base for the students to
knead and add flavoring to. Give each student some gum and
flavoring, and have them roll out the gum and cut it into their
own shapes. See instructions included in the Make Your Own
Chewing Gum Kit.
Assessment:
Have the students write a short paragraph explaining the
connection between the chewing gum they made and the rainforest.
Have them draw their own conclusions about why we should help
protect our rainforests. For more of a challenge, have the
students write about how the environment and the economy (or
ways of making a living) are connected.
Resources:
“El Chicle” DVD
18 minute film, in Spanish with English subtitles, about the
harvest of chicle. Made in Mexico. For more information or to
purchase a copy, email us at info@gleegum.com.
http://www.mayankids.com/mmkpeople/chewinggum.htm
A great site, designed for kids, about Mayan culture. Includes
information on chewing gum.
http://www.ran.org/new/kidscorner/home/
A great site for kids with information on ways kids can get
involved and help protect the rainforest.
http://www.rainforesteducation.com/
Plenty of background information about the rainforest.
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/science/biology/rain/
Links to many lesson plans about the rainforest for all grade
levels.
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/education/kids/online-stories/index.html
Stories of real kids who live in rainforests around the world.
Other pages on this site have rainforest-themed crafts and
activities.
http://www.fordgum.com/story.html
Information on the history of chewing gum throughout the world.
3. Tips
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Heating the gum base in the microwave works well, but be
careful not to overheat or you may melt the plastic pan. Mixing
often is key!
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Be very careful when working with the gum base/corn syrup
mixture, as it is very sticky. Knead the mixture with sugar
until it is safe for the children to handle.
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Show the gum base pellets to the students so that they can see
what the chicle looks like. With small groups, you can give a
pellet to each student to chew.
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Read through all instructions before you begin so you know
what to expect.
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For large classes, roll the gum into small gumballs to yield
the most individual pieces of gum.
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Check with parents to make sure all children are allowed to
eat the final product.
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Have fun!
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