Instructional strategies can be helpful in facilitating students' knowledge construction and developing advanced cognitive skills. In the context of collaborative learning, instructional strategies as scripts can guide learners to engage in more meaningful interaction. Previous studies have been investigated the benefits of different instructional strategies; nonetheless, relatively little attention has been paid to illustrating the learners' cognitive processing and behavioral patterns in the learning process. Nowadays, with the proliferation of information technology, behavior and interaction of learners can be conveniently documented and analyzed. The aim of this study is to propose a new approach examining the learning process. This study designed a four-week collaborative learning activity involving four widely used instructional strategies, i.e. problem solving, peer assessment, role playing and peer tutoring. Blogs were used to support students' collaboration. A total of 9843 discussion messages were retrieved for data analysis. Quantitative content analysis and lag sequential analysis were employed to explore the content structure and behavioral patterns demonstrated in students' online discussions. The results showed that students exhibited relatively more cognitive process of 'understand' under peer assessment and peer tutoring instructional strategies. Meanwhile, students showed relatively more cognitive process of 'create' under problem solving and role playing strategies. Implications of the findings and suggestions for subsequent work are discussed.