In order to meet the requirements of students’ cooperative learning, our 
quasi-experimental study addresses how pre-service teachers (PSTs), as a 
component of their procedural pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), may 
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 two-step (role play and group discussion) and in a 
three-step variant (role play, group discussion, and an additional 
assignment exercise). We audio-taped and transcribed all PST-tutored 
experimental phases of one control group (without training) and our two 
training groups. We categorized 2865 tutor-student interactions 
content-analytically regarding adequacy in potentially supporting 
students’ promotive interaction as core condition of cooperative 
learning. We examined the PST interaction patterns identified. Our 
tutor-trained PSTs, especially those who received three-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 three-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.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2019.1583034