| Teaching
Ideas and Units - Teaching Strategies
Scamper
Reading,
viewing, writing, speaking and listening
Bands A,B,C,D
What is
it?
SCAMPER is
a strategy that can be used to assist students to generate new or alternative
ideas. It is a tool to support creative, divergent thinking. SCAMPER is
an acronym for: substitute, combine, adapt, modify/magnify/minify,
put to other uses, eliminate, reverse/rearrange.
What is
its purpose?
SCAMPER helps
students ask questions that require them to think "beyond the lines"
of a text. As such, it helps develop their critical thinking skills and
supports them in constructing their own imaginative texts. It is a useful
cooperative learning tool and a great stimulus for role play.
How do
I do it?
The strategy
is often best used after students have spent some time studying a text.
Explain the purpose of the strategy to the students, encouraging them
to open up their minds to a range of creative possibilities. The following
example shows how SCAMPER can be used to generate interesting questions
when working with Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
S: Substitute
(a person, place, time or situation)
What do you think would have happened if there had been a Crazy Scientist
Bear instead of Father Bear?
C: Combine (bring together assorted ideas and situations)
What would have happened if the three bears were returning from a reunion
with relatives who had escaped from a zoo where they had been badly treated
by the zookeepers?
A: Adapt
(or adjust to suit a purpose)
How might the story have changed if Goldilocks had had a leg in plaster
and was using crutches?
M: Modify
(for example, by changing the physical size or personality traits of some
characters or changing the setting)
What would have happened if the bears had been cubs and much smaller than
Goldilocks?
P: Put
to other uses (for example, put a different slant on the plot)
What if Goldilocks was only pretending to be lost and was really looking
for an excuse to break into other people’s houses?
E: Eliminate a feature of the story
How might the story change if there were no Father Bear?
R: Rearrange
or reverse the sequence of the story
What if Baby Bear had returned home before the others?
How can
I adapt it?
It is not
necessary to use all the steps in SCAMPER. Steps can be selected and combined
in a variety of ways to match your teaching intentions.
How can
it be used to evaluate students’ language learning?
SCAMPER can
be used to assess listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing. It
can help students explore and demonstrate their contextual understanding
and their knowledge of the structures and features of texts.
Where
can I find out more?
Bob Eberle
(1990) Scamper On Hawker Brownlow
Contact Stephen Fagg, State Coordinator (Gifted Education) 62337281
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