What is SCAMPER?It’s a strategy that can be used to help students to generate new and many alternative ideas.

A tool to support creative and divergent thinking.

Help you to think changes that you can make to an existing product to create a new one. You can use these changes as starting points for creative thinking and to use your imagination.

SCAMPER was proposed by Alex Osborne in 1953, and was further developed by Bob Elerle in 1971 in his book; SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development.

Alex Osborne Bob Elerle

Founders of SCAMPER

How SCAMPER techniques can be used?

SCAMPER techniques can be used in number of activities. Each and every letter refers to :

Substitute

Think about substituting part of the product or process for something else. Question to be asked :

What other purpose?

What other times?

What other places?

What other components/materials/parts?

What else instead? Who else instead ?

Combine

Combining two or more parts of the product or process to make something new or to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Questions to be asked: What technologies can be combined? What part/material can be combined?

What ideas, purpose and units can be combined?

Adapt

Thinking a way on which parts of the product or process could be adapted or find a way to change the nature of the product or process.

Questions to be asked :

What photo or sound can be added?

What color or form can be added?

Which extra function can be added?

Modify or Magnify

Think a way on changing certain part or all of the product or process, or twisting it in an unusual way.

Questions to be asked :

What other meaning?

What might I add?

What other shape might I adopt?

Put to other uses

Think a way on how you might put a certain product or process to other use or how you might reuse something from somewhere else.

Questions to be asked :

Can I use it in other industries?

What else can the product/service be used for?

What other possible uses are there if it’s modified?

EliminateThink of about the product in the end if you eliminated certain parts of the process and consider what you might do in that situation.

Questions to be asked :

What is nonessential or unnecessary?

What would happen if it was made smaller?

What would happen if those rules are eliminated?

Rearrange or Reverse

Think of what you might do if parts of the product or process worked in reverse or were sequenced differently.

Questions to be asked :

What can be arranged in a different way?

What can be turned / twisted?

What can be reversed / turned up side down

Potential Usage of SCAMPER Techniques in daily life .

Substitute pen cap with usb flashdrive.

Combine sink with toilet bowl.

Adding a pizza holder on a scissor

Modify a fork into finger fork.

A piano put to other use as book shelves.

A tree eliminated the need of parasol.

A reverse way to close/open an umbrella

ConclusionThe SCAMPER technique is one of the easiest and direct methods for creative thinking and problem-solving through a number of techniques or question types; (S) substitute, (C) combine, (A) adapt, (M) modify, (P) put to another use, (E) eliminate and (R) reverse. These types can be used to explore problems from seven perspectives. This holistic technique of study helps reaching the best decision which fuels innovation and creativity.