A Role-Play-Based Tutor Training in Preservice Teacher Education for Developing Procedural Pedagogical Content Knowledge by Optimizing Tutor–Student Interactions in the Context of an Outreach Lab

ABSTRACT

To meet the requirements of students’ cooperative learning, our quasi-experimental study addresses how preservice teachers (PSTs), as a component of their procedural pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), might develop more adequate tutor–student interactions during students’ experimentation. Applying the assignment-assistance tutoring model, we combined biology PSTs’ education with our high school students’ outreach program, Genetic Fingerprinting. We developed a role-play-based tutor training in a 2-step (role play and group discussion) and in a 3-step variant (role play, group discussion, and an additional assignment exercise). We audiotaped and transcribed all PST-tutored experimental phases of one control group (without training) and our two training groups. We categorized 2,865 tutor–student interactions content-analytically regarding adequacy in potentially supporting students’ promotive interaction as a core condition of cooperative learning. We examined the PST interaction patterns identified. Our tutor-trained PSTs, especially those who received 3-step training, showed less inadequate tutor–student interactions compared with control group PSTs. Cluster-analytically extracted intervening interaction types were found only in the control group and the rule-complying type dominated the 3-step group. We discuss our training as an effective approach to develop tutor–student interactions as a component of procedural PCK that is part of PSTs’ initial professional development.

KEYWORDS:

• initial professional development
• pedagogical content knowledge
• preservice teacher education
• role play
• science outreach
• tutoring

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the teachers and students involved in this study for their cooperation. We appreciate the helpful and valuable discussion of earlier stages of the manuscript with M. Wiseman.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Oberfranken Foundation (02094/010807) and the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (74a-U8793-2001/10-36).