**3. Results**

This section includes the results from both the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative is derived by analyzing the narratives from the three stages of the collaborative activity implementation (i.e., structured, semi-structured, and non-structured), as well as from the analysis from the focus group discussions.

#### *3.1. Quantitative Analysis of Narratives on Cooperative Learning*

Both the mean scores of the assessment on reflection (Figure 1a) and identity (Figure 1b) increased with the instructional approach (from A1 to A3) regardless of the four dimensions of the reflective narratives' assessment (Table 2) or the four dimensions of identity construction assessment (Table 3). The mean score for the reflective narratives' assessment was higher for dimensions 1 (R1—Focus of reflection) and 3 (R3—Inquiring) and decreased for dimension 2 (R2—Prior conceptions and beliefs) and for dimension 4 (R4—Transformation). Although not shown, the scale demonstrated fair internal reliability with the present sample, α varied from 0.895 for the whole reflection dimension for A1 to 0.834 for A3 and α varied from 0.915 for the whole identity dimension for A1 to 0.836 for A3.

Two-way ANOVA with replication tests for the reflective dimensions R1, R2, R3, and R4 provided F values above the critical Fcr, rejecting the null hypothesis (Table 4), and therefore, indicating that the means between the instructional approaches were significantly di fferent (with a 99% level of significance) among them. The identity mean score also increased with the instructional approach (from the approach A1 to A3), with F > Fcr in all cases (Table 4). These results indicated that the mean score between instructional approaches were significantly di fferent (with a 99% level of significance) for each identity (Table 4). Di fferences were found between the mean scores for the identity construction assessment (Table 4), but in this case, with a 95% level of significance. The interaction between the instructional approaches and the reflective dimensions were not significant (Table 4) and, thus, indicate that there is no relationship between them.

**Table 4.** Summaries of the two-way ANOVA with replication tests for the four reflection assessment dimensions and the for the four identity assessments. Df represents the degrees of freedom, F is the variability coe fficient, Fcr is the critical variability coe fficient, and P is the level of significance.


**Figure 1.** Mean and standard deviations for each instructional approach for the four dimensions of the reflection (**a**) and identity (**b**) assessment.

#### *3.2. Qualitative Analysis on Reflection on Cooperative Learning*

In support of the quantitative analysis, the analysis of both the written narratives and the discussions from the focus group provided insights into using the collaborative activities at the schools. As in the work of Colomer et al. [9], the first step in analyzing the contents of the written narratives of each student was to identify complete units of information understood, as a simple idea/concep<sup>t</sup> or thought, about a particular learning process. Among the 63 narratives per approach describing the nine cooperative activities, in the structured approach corresponding to the first narrative, there were 480 units, while for the second narrative corresponding to the semi-structured approach, there were 531 units, and for the non-structured approach, there were 363. In addition, 58 units were obtained from the analysis of the transcribed focus group on cooperative learning. The corresponding assessment was undertaken by two members of the research team, and then they agreed on the information units to code [9,31]. The work was subsequently revised by the rest of the authors, who agreed on the approach analysis (92% for first narrative analysis, 96% for the second, and 93% for the third). For the five dimensions of cooperative learning, Table 5 presents the most significant comments extracted from the analysis of the students' narratives.

**Table 5.** Students' reflections on cooperative learning: dimensions, approaches, and associated explanations extracted from the students' narratives.
