Tag: SCAMPER

Creative Thinking, K-12, Teaching Tools

2 Free S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Resources for December

Terri Eichholz

I’ve slowly been working on digitizing and updating some of my materials. Last year, I offered this free S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Through Winter Jamboard. (Here is the Google Slides version if you prefer, so you can print it as a PDF.) S.C.A.M.P.E.R. is a creative thinking tool developed by Bob Eberle, and each letter stands for suggestions to spark innovation: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, and Rearrange. You can see an example of one of the slides below.

A student example of Substitution from the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Through Winter pack

I do like to be as inclusive as possible with my readers. And it has not escaped me that there is another hemisphere that experiences its seasons at different times of the year than the United States. So, for my southern hemisphere friends (or anyone in the northern hemisphere who likes to switch things up once in awhile), here is my brand new Summer Pool Party S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Jamboard. I also have a Google Slides version for anyone who would like it.

I will be adding this post to my December Wakelet, which also has links related to Hour of Code (NEXT WEEK!) and various holidays coming up this month. And don’t forget that you can see all of my Wakelet Collections on this page!

Back to School SCAMPER final slide
Creative Thinking, K-5

Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R. (Digital Versions)

Terri Eichholz

I am slowly updating a lot of my materials, and I just completed my “Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R.” A quick recap of S.C.A.M.P.E.R.:  S.C.A.M.P.E.R. is an acronym used to help one remember some great tools for creative thinking. “Substitute” is the first tool, followed by “Combine”, “Adapt”, “Modify”, “Put to Another Use”, “Eliminate”, and “Rearrange.” I originally created a TPT packet several years ago, after being inspired by Miss Trayers in this post. But I am trying to offer more of my materials for free and digitally.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R. makes a great activity any time of the year, and especially during the first few days of school as you try to learn more about your students and how they think. I would often do the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. prompts on my own while they worked so they could learn a little bit about me as well. They can be used as warm-ups, in centers, and even reward activities.

I have developed a few S.C.A.M.P.E.R. products over the years, and my students love it when I pass out the activity pages.  My more recent updates include Google Slides and Jamboard versions, such as this one for the Winter Holidays and my St. Patrick’s Day set.

There are always several students that wow me with their unique responses.  You can see some student examples from a few years ago here.

I used a template from SlidesGo to make my updated Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R., as well as illustrations from Storyset.com.

Here is the link to the Google Slides version of Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

And here is the link to the Jamboard version.

Speaking of Jamboard, I will be adding this to my Wakelet of Jamboard templates. For more Jamboards that promote creativity, I definitely recommend the ones by Julia Dweck, all of which she has linked here.

Click here for the Slides version.
Creative Thinking, K-5

More Free Stuff!

Terri Eichholz

As we continue Teacher Appreciation Week, I have made more products free on my TPT page. In addition to the packet I mentioned yesterday, you can now download Superhero S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R. packets. Not familiar with S.C.A.M.P.E.R.? Learn a bit more here. I guarantee your elementary students will love it!

Student example from Back to School S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

Creative Thinking, K-5

Summer Pool Party Packet – Free!

Terri Eichholz

I am in the process of revising my TPT resources and providing them on this site for free – but it’s taking awhile. In the meantime, since it is Teacher Appreciation Week, I am offering my Summer Pool Party Packet for free. It includes a list of suggested “Brainshines” (instead of brainstorms), a writing page for thinking about life from the perspective of a pair of sunglasses, and a page each of S.C.A.M.P.E.R. ideas. (See this post if you are not familiar with S.C.A.M.P.E.R.) These are fun creative thinking activities to do, especially after state-wide testing or the last week of school!

From Summer Pool Party by Terri Eichholz
Creative Thinking, K-12, Student Response, Teaching Tools

S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Through Winter and Some New Jamboard Updates

Terri Eichholz

I was excited to find that Google Jamboard updated last week, allowing people to upload our own backgrounds so we don’t have to worry about students accidentally moving our designs. I worked on re-designing one of my S.C.A.M.P.E.R. resources so I could offer it to you for use on Jamboard. S.C.A.M.P.E.R. is a creative thinking tool developed by Bob Eberle, and each letter stands for suggestions to spark innovation: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, and Rearrange. I am working on revamping all of my S.C.A.M.P.E.R. materials, but currently have S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Through Winter available on Jamboard for you to copy and use.

I added some animated gifs from Giphy.com to create some more visual interest, but those are not part of the background so they can be deleted if you like. If you prefer, I also have the same prompts on a Google Slides presentation in case you want to make multiple copies of one prompt by downloading as a .png or .jpg. I slightly modified the prompts so that they are “holiday-neutral.” For some examples of some of the creative responses I’ve gotten from students in the past, you can look at this post and this one. I am adding this post to my Winter Holidays Wakelet, which has over 65 resources now. In addition, I will post the link on my Jamboard Wakelet, which is also gaining more resources every day.

One of my recent additions to the Jamboard Wakelet is a nice image of keyboard shortcuts to view a Version History in Jamboard. This image was tweeted by @MariaGalanis. Until yesterday, I had no idea it was possible to do this. Unfortunately, you cannot see who made changes on the Jamboard, as you can with other Google products, but being able to return to earlier versions when mistakes are made or you forgot to make a copy before students used it is extremely helpful.

Alice Keeler (@AliceKeeler) wrote a post about these shortcuts, suggestions for naming your original version history, and a sticky note short cut for Jamboard that she published today, so be sure to check that out for more good advice.

I hope everyone is having a great Monday, and this week, which will be the last for many before the Winter Break, is going smoothly!

Creative Thinking, K-12

Social Distancing Hacks

Terri Eichholz

One of the challenges I have with students when we are doing Design Thinking is to teach them to embrace constraints.  Sometimes I will get feedback from them at the end of projects that “we should be able to do whatever we want,”  despite my explanation that my experience has shown that complete freedom can often be too overwhelming – and sometimes not very safe.  So, I’ve been watching the slow emergence of innovative ideas coming out of our current pandemic situation with some delight at the creativity being revealed as people try to design around social distancing.

These are all basically ideas using, at the very least, the “Adapt” step of S.C.A.M.P.E.R., as people attempt to find ways to stay healthy while still leaving their homes.  After you show them a few of the linked images, students might enjoy designing their own social distancing hacks for school, shopping, the beach, etc…  I’d love to see their ideas!

social-4980986_1920
Image by db_oblikovanje from Pixabay