Webinar Replay: SCAMPER

Invention education helps students learn to identify problems, generate solutions, and communicate their ideas—using the same thinking processes real inventors use. It fits naturally with problem-based learning and integrates well with STEAM and literacy skills because students have to brainstorm, test ideas, revise, and explain their thinking.

In a recent MSTA webinar, Denise Tingler—retired educator with 27 years of classroom experience and an invention education advocate trained through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Master Teacher of Invention Program—shares an approachable, classroom-ready strategy for building student creativity and problem-solving: SCAMPER.

Why teach invention education?

Educators don’t need a special course or equipment to begin, because inventions and intellectual property (IP) are already part of students’ daily lives. Students constantly see and use inventions (school supplies, devices, water bottles), and they recognize IP like trademarks (logos, brand identifiers) long before they learn the formal vocabulary.

Invention education also supports two major classroom goals:

• Student ownership: Students take more control of learning when they’re solving real problems and making choices.
• Problem-solving capacity: Students practice identifying needs, analyzing constraints, and producing workable solutions—often aligned to school or district goals about lifelong learning and problem solving.

In invention education, the educator's role often shifts toward coaching: posing prompts, guiding brainstorming, supporting iteration, and helping students explain their reasoning—while students do the heavy lifting of idea generation and refinement.

How to use the SCAMPER strategy

SCAMPER is a structured, research-based method of guided brainstorming. It’s an acronym that gives students prompts for how to change an object, idea, or system, which makes brainstorming more productive and less intimidating.

SCAMPER stands for:

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify (Magnify/Minimize)
• Put to another use
• Eliminate
• Rearrange/Reverse

A strong entry point is to choose an object students already have access to—like a water bottle—and run it through SCAMPER. The goal isn’t to “get the right answer,” but to generate many possible improvements and discover real needs. Here’s what each prompt helps students do:

S — Substitute

Ask: What materials or components could be swapped?
Example directions students can take: quieter materials (to reduce classroom noise), improved insulation for hot/cold, or less expensive materials.

C — Combine

Ask: What could be added or merged with it to make it more useful?
Students brainstorm ways to combine functions—like adding storage or attaching commonly carried items so fewer things are juggled at once.

A — Adapt

Ask: What could be changed slightly, or what idea could be borrowed from something else?
This prompt helps students make connections between unrelated items (e.g., borrowing a feature from a flashlight or travel tool).

M — Modify (Magnify/Minimize)

Ask: How could size, shape, or scale change the usefulness?
Students consider versions that fit different contexts (cupholders, desks, travel) and design for user needs.

P — Put to Another Use

Ask: What else could it do besides its original purpose?
Students explore repurposing—turning a bottle into something like a slow plant-watering tool, a game/toy, or a light source.

E — Eliminate

Ask: What could be removed, and what trade-offs happen?
Removing parts (lid, handle, etc.) forces students to think about functions vs. clutter, and about simplicity.

R — Rearrange/Reverse

Ask: What if parts were moved, flipped, or the order changed?
Rearranging features pushes students to see design differently and imagine new configurations.

How to use SCAMPER in other subjects

SCAMPER can also be used as a thinking routine across content areas, not just for product design. Examples educators can adapt immediately:

• ELA: Substitute a character trait; adapt a story to a different setting; rearrange plot events and analyze cause/effect.
• Art: Combine artistic styles; modify scale or color choices for different emotional effects.
• Social Studies: Modify a key historical decision and predict impacts; rearrange sequences of events and analyze outcomes.
• Math/Science: Eliminate a variable and observe what changes; put data “to another use” by turning it into a persuasive argument.

This makes SCAMPER a practical “plug-in” strategy—even for teachers who aren’t running a full invention project.

For more information about SCAMPER, you can reach out to Denise Henggeler at denisehenggeler@gmail.com.

This post was written with the help of MSTA's AI chatbot Tillie based on the original MSTA webinar streamed Feb. 26, 2026.