It was fun and engaging lesson and activity for graduate students- I can only hope to have the same effect with my future elementary/middle school students. I love that you can take a simple concept such as questioning which bubble gum brand makes the biggest bubbles, or which stretches the furthest, or which maintains its flavor the longest and explore all of the scientific process skills: raising questions, predicting, planning and conducting investigations, explaining/hypothesizing, interpreting evidence, and communicating results. 
What a fantastic way to introduce these concepts to young learners. With this type of PBL activity, you can meet standards in the elementary grades (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Embedded Inquiry), and further apply this to middle and high school standards by further discussing physical and chemical properties.
What I remember of learning the scientific method in school left me feeling bored and disinterested. I distinctly remember there being more emphasis put into the steps taken rather than the process skills (that should have been) being developed. In contrast, I feel that PBL investigations such as the bubble gum activity we carried out in class can introduce the core concepts of scientific inquiry while encouraging the inherent curiosity needed to develop a scientifically literate mind in young learners.
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