21st Century SCAMPER

Laura Magner

You CAN (and should) be more Creative

• Teachers have a three pronged task:

Convince adults that they can

think more creatively.

Carve out the time in a packed and pressured schedule.

How do you teach

creativity?1 32

Misconceptions • Creative thought is something

that should be infused into every existing subject area.

• Art and projects

Changes in a classicBloom’s (original) Taxonomy Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Evaluating Creating

Synthesis Evaluating

Analysis Analyzing

Application Applying

Comprehension Understanding

Knowledge Remembering

How do we teach it?• How do we teach it when we

can’t even really define it?Your right brain tells your left brain

to go sit in a cornerYou stop trying to put a round peg

in a square hole and you change the holeOutcomes that are original

and of value

Eberle’s SCAMPER• Begins with imagination,

spontaneity, playfulness

• My take on SCAMPER takes the processes to a point where outcomes are produced

More than the acronym

• FEELING PROCESSES-curiosity, risk-taking, preference for complexity, intuition

• THINKING PROCESSES-fluency, flexibility, and elaboration

• OTHER PROCESSES-at work are imagination, brainstorming, complexity, incubation, and checklist creation.

SCAMPER TechniquesSubstituteCombineAdjustModifyPut to another useEliminateRearrange/reorder

• S is for Substitute- • The first verb means to substitute. Put a new

thing (or person!) in the place of an existing thing (or concept.) The substitution must do the same or similar job. It’s different yet somehow similar.

• C is for Combine- • The next verb is a fun one, combine something to

the object or idea on which you are working. Attach/add anything you want.

• A is for Adjust- • This verb requires the thinker to change

something to suit a condition or a different purpose. I personally also use A as Adapt- change to give a new capability.

• Students often seem to have trouble with this step which is interesting, as it really offers the most flexibility. Adequate time should be spent to assure they understand the meaning of the word adapt so that they can understand and remember what they can do during this step.

• M is for Modify- (or magnify, or minify)• This verb has more than one ‘m’ idea. Commonly

we see modify, but can also think of it as minify or magnify. So an item or idea could be modified in some way. And as further guidance, change can be size, speed, or weight; a part of it or all of it can be modified.

• Put to Another Use-• Eberle states that this step is to have a person or

thing pretend to be or take the place of another. This sounds a lot like the substitution step.

• Eliminate-• This step says to remove or get rid of some part,

some quality, a whole aspect, or part of the idea or object. One stipulation I tell my students is that they cannot eliminate something that they added previously. If it was important enough to add earlier, it should not be eliminated later.

• Reverse or Rearrange-• Elements can re-ordered, turned around, or have

an adjusted layout. Something can be moved anywhere, and it doesn’t have to be directly opposite of its previous location.

It’s positive because…

It’s negativebecause…

Teaching the techniques

• Substitute: A Day in the Life: students to explore their knowledge of typical jobs in their community and to use this knowledge to imagine how switching career professionals would change those jobs. The changes could be both positive and negative.

• Put to Another Use: Foiled Again: students will come up with unusual, yet useful, ideas for how to use tin foil. Their new ideas should involve using the foil to help a situation, fix a problem, or create something novel or entertaining.

Style Description Pictorial representation

Flat foil  

      

Folded/twisted foil  

   

Balled foil  

      

• Eliminate: Pare and Share: critically look at an everyday item and pare it down to its most essential parts.

Integrated Activities

Straight SCAMPER

Reverse SCAMPER

white sneaker (such as Keds®) fancy, modified sneaker/running shoe

basic analog watch, plain band modified, multi-function watch

white paper plate Zoo Pals® plate by Hefty®

plain backpack/book bag Modified, multi-function book bag

(pictures) c1960 TV (pictures or ads) 2010 or newer TV

(pictures interior & exterior) c1960 car

(pictures or ads) current year cars

Work backwards, analyze existing things and pull out the SCAMPER techniques.

Roll of the diceScamper a school desk: 6 , 3 2 7

• Roll the dice to create your creative code. Record the numbers below left to right. Then use the SCAMPER key to determine what steps of SCAMPER you will be using. ______ ______ ______ , ______ ______ ______

SCAMPER Key: 1-Substitute 2- Combine 3-Adapt 4- Modify 5- Put to Another Use 6- Eliminate 7-Rearrange 8-Free Choice!

•Record your SCAMPER Code and the subsequent changes you will make.

•Code Word Change

•___eliminate _____ I will eliminate the pencil groove at the top of the desk.• _____________________________________________

•___adapt ______ _I will modify the desk top so that it’s slightly sticky, _

• like a Post-it, so nothing rolls off the top!______

Roundabout• Everyone has a say in this group SCAMPER.

Sweet, sweet SCAMPER

• Use a little sweet motivation to entice the class to think creatively.

M&Ms®     Sweet Tarts®

 

Red Substitute

  Yellow Substitute

Green Combine   Pink CombineOrange Adapt   Orange Adapt Blue Modify   Purple Modify Brown Eliminate   Blue Eliminat

eYellow Rearrang

e  Green Rearran

ge         

Creativity SPREE• Specificity• Perseverance• Record Keeping• Enrich• Expand