There were two purposes for this mixed methods study: to investigate (a) the realistic meaning of awareness and understanding as the underlying constructs of general knowledge of the learning process and (b) a procedure for data consolidation. The participants were 11th-grade high school and first-year university students. Integrated data collection and data transformation provided for positive but small correlations between awareness and understanding. A comparison of the created combined and integrated new data sets showed that the integrated data set provided for an expected statistically significant outcome, which was in line with the participants’ developmental difference. This study can contribute to the mixed methods research because it proposes a procedure for data consolidation and a new research design.

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This study examined students' use of self-reflection in relation to their teachers' coaching behavior in a cooperative learning situation. Participants were 218 fourth grade secondary vocational students and 12 teachers of different study domains in The Netherlands. Students rated teachers' coaching behavior. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that teachers' guidance was related to students' use of self-reflective thinking. Teachers' coaching style was measured as their instructional beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, and coaching behavior. Visual inspection of means of students' rating of teachers' behavior and by students' self-reflective thinking indicated that teachers, whose intentions and behavior are in line with student-led teaching, provide a coaching style that is high in guidance and encourages students' use of self-reflective thinking. The implications of teachers' coaching behavior in the classroom are discussed.

The development of a questionnaire to assess students' use of self-reflective thinking in the classroom is described. On the basis of a literature search, items were selected. The items are students' self-report measures and open-ended questions. The participants were 96 fourth grade secondary vocational students from six classes in The Netherlands, all of whom were used to learning in cooperative groups. Complementary data were selected to validate this questionnaire. Visual inspection of the frequencies indicated a difference between levels of students' self-reflecting thinking. Between-subjects t tests showed that students' motivational engagement and marks could be used to validate the measure of self-reflective thinking. The implication of the questionnaire to assess students' self-reflective thinking within the classroom are discussed.

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