How Peripheral Interactive Systems Can Support Teachers with Differentiated Instruction: Using FireFlies as a Probe

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Teachers’ response to the real-time needs of diverse learners in the classroom is important for each learner’s success. Teachers who give differentiated instruction (DI) provide pertinent support to each student and acknowledge their differences in learning style and pace. However, due to the already complex and intensive routines in classrooms, it is demanding and time-consuming for teachers to implement DI on-the-spot. This study aims to explore how to ease teachers’ classroom differentiation by enabling effortless, low-threshold student-teacher communications through a peripheral interactive system. Namely, we present a six-week study, in which we iteratively co-designed and field-tested interaction solutions with eight school teachers, using a set of distributed, interactive LED-objects (the ‘FireFlies’ platform). By connecting our findings to the theories of DI, we contribute empirical knowledge about the advantages and limitations of a peripheral interactive system in supporting DI. Taken together, we summarize concrete opportunities and recommendations for future design.