Contributor- Julie Durand

Nurse practitioner education increasingly emphasizes competency-based curricula, accreditation standards, and measurable outcomes. As nursing educators and leaders, however, our responsibility extends beyond ensuring that students can demonstrate competencies. We must also create learning experiences that cultivate inquiry, reflection, critical thinking, and a commitment to lifelong learning.

More than a century ago, philosopher and educator John Dewey challenged educators to think differently about how learning occurs. A foundational figure in pragmatism and modern education, Dewey viewed education not simply as the transmission of knowledge, but as a process of growth shaped by experience, inquiry, and reflection. Dewey’s emphasis on active participation, experiential learning, and critical thinking has also been explored in the context of artificial intelligence and nursing education in Cora Rabe’s 2025 Nursology post The Philosophy of Knowledge in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Are We Teaching, or Is AI Taking Over? | Nursology. Dewey’s work raises a question that remains remarkably relevant to nurse practitioner education today: Is experience alone enough to produce learning?

This relationship between education and clinical leadership has recently been explored on
Nursology in Nurse Education and Clinical Leadership: A Philosophical Perspective | Nursology.
Calubaquib and Nguyen (2026) argue that nursing education shapes not only what nurses know, but how they think, reason, and ultimately lead in practice. Building on this idea, Dewey’s philosophy offers a
useful lens for considering how nurse practitioner education can similarly move beyond knowledge and
competency attainment to cultivate inquiry, reflection, and continued growth. Dewey’s work raises a
question that remains remarkably relevant to nurse practitioner education today: Is clinical experience
alone enough to produce learning?

Dewey would argue that it is not. Clinical hours, simulation experiences, classroom instruction, and competency assessments all provide opportunities for learning, but their educational value depends on what learners do with those experiences. Dewey’s philosophy offers a useful lens for considering how we prepare future nurse practitioners to think critically, reflect on their experiences, connect theory with practice, and continue learning throughout their careers. Below, I propose three Deweyan ideas that are particularly relevant to contemporary NP education: learning through experience, reflection, and the integration of theory and practice.

Learning Through Experience

Dewey (1916) argued that formal education should build upon experiential learning, helping students connect what they study with what they encounter in practice. Importantly, Dewey (1938) emphasized that not all experiences are equally educative. Meaningful experiences stimulate curiosity, promote inquiry, connect theory with practice, and contribute to continued growth. This concept of “learning by doing” is particularly relevant to NP education, where clinical rotations allow students to apply theoretical knowledge to patient care.

Simulation provides another opportunity for experiential learning. Through faculty-guided scenarios, students can encounter complex clinical situations, observe the consequences of their decisions, receive feedback, and revise their approach. This process reflects Dewey’s (1938) emphasis on experience, reflection, and continued learning. From a Deweyan perspective, then, the value of clinical and simulation experiences lies not simply in participation, but in their ability to promote inquiry, reflection, and growth.

Reflection in Learning

For Dewey, experience alone is insufficient for learning; it must be accompanied by reflection. Reflection allows learners to examine their actions and consequences, consider alternative approaches, and apply new understanding to future experiences. This deliberate process distinguishes meaningful learning from simple trial and error (Dewey, 1916).

Within NP education, reflection can help students connect theory with practice while developing clinical judgment, critical thinking, and professional identity. Reflective journals, case analyses, simulation debriefings, guided discussions, and clinical documentation can prompt students to examine their reasoning and evaluate their clinical decisions. Faculty feedback and evaluation can further encourage students to consider their performance and identify opportunities for growth. Through intentional reflection, clinical experiences become opportunities not simply to practice, but to learn (Dewey, 1916).

Integration of Theory and Practice

Dewey emphasized that learning becomes meaningful when knowledge is connected to experience. Rather than asking students simply to memorize or recite information, educators should create opportunities to apply knowledge through active, meaningful experiences (Dewey, 1916). Subject matter gains value when learners can connect it to what they encounter in practice.

For NP students, this integration allows classroom learning to become relevant to patient care. Clinical experiences provide opportunities to apply foundational knowledge, evaluate its usefulness, and develop new understanding through experience. By intentionally connecting what students know with what they do, NP educators can make learning more active, relevant, and meaningful.

Dewey’s emphasis on experience, reflection, and the integration of theory and practice also aligns
with Chinn and Falk-Rafael’s (2018) Critical Caring Pedagogy | Nursology, a nursing-specific theoretical
framework that grounds teaching and learning in the values and philosophical foundations of the nursing
discipline. Critical Caring Pedagogy emphasizes praxis, empowerment, awareness, and cooperation,
recognizing that nursing education involves more than the acquisition of knowledge and technical skills.
Like Dewey’s philosophy, this framework encourages educators to create meaningful learning
experiences that foster critical inquiry and connect knowledge with action. These perspectives remind us that NP education should not only prepare students to demonstrate clinical competence, but also cultivate reflective practitioners who approach patient care with curiosity, intentionality, and an understanding of nursing’s disciplinary values.

Advancing NP Education Through Deweyan Principles

Evaluate Educational Aims

Dewey (1916) emphasized that education should cultivate a desire and capacity for continued
growth. Students should be active participants in learning, engaging with content that has meaningful
application beyond the classroom. For NP educators, this means considering whether program, course,
and lesson objectives emphasize not only content and competency attainment, but also inquiry,
application, and the capacity for lifelong learning.

Faculty can reinforce this aim by modeling intellectual curiosity and demonstrating that learning
continues throughout one’s career. Program and university leaders can support this through opportunities for faculty scholarship and professional development. Faculty can also emphasize the evolving nature of evidence, teaching students not only to stay current with the science but to critically appraise new evidence and determine how it should inform practice. By emphasizing inquiry rather than content mastery alone, NP educators can better prepare graduates for continued learning and professional growth.

Meaningful Clinical Experience

Dewey’s emphasis on experiential learning calls us to consider not only whether NP students complete clinical experiences, but also the quality of those experiences. Not all experiences are equally educative; Dewey cautioned that experiences can be “miseducative” when they fail to promote reflection and growth (Dewey, 1938). Meaningful clinical experiences should connect theory with practice while allowing students to actively engage in the NP role.
Securing quality clinical experiences can be challenging amid preceptor shortages and competition for clinical sites (McInnis et al., 2021). Despite these challenges, clinical education should extend beyond observation or shadowing and provide students with opportunities for progressive autonomy, responsibility, and reflection. While clinical hour requirements remain important, a Deweyan perspective challenges NP educators to consider the quality of learning that occurs within those hours, not simply their completion.

Promote Reflective Practice

If reflection transforms experience into learning, NP educators should intentionally create opportunities for reflection throughout the curriculum. Although reflection may occur through case discussions and clinical debriefings, programs should consider whether these opportunities are sufficiently intentional and structured.

Structured case conferences, reflective journaling, and faculty-led simulation debriefings can encourage students to examine their clinical decisions and identify what they have learned from an experience. Preceptors can also promote reflection during clinical rotations through simple questions such as, “What might you do differently the next time you encounter a patient like this?” By making reflection an intentional part of clinical education, faculty can help students transform individual experiences into learning that informs future practice.

Conclusion

Dewey’s philosophy remains highly relevant to modern NP education. As nurse educators and leaders, his work reminds us to consider the aim of the education we provide. Our goal is not merely to transmit facts, but to provide learners with foundational knowledge and, equally important, the desire and capacity to continue learning. The “facts” of our world as we understand them today are not guaranteed tomorrow, and we do our students a disservice if we ask them only to memorize current science. Instead, we must cultivate curiosity, inquiry, and the skills necessary for lifelong learning.

Dewey reminds us that experience alone is not enough to produce learning. Meaningful education requires experience coupled with inquiry, reflection, and opportunities to connect theory with practice. By intentionally creating these opportunities, NP educators can prepare graduates not only for the practice of today, but also for continued learning and growth throughout their careers.

References

Calubaquib, D. & Nguyen, R.(2026, May 15). Nurse education and clinical leadership: A philosophical perspective. Nursology. https://nursology.net/2026/05/15/nurse-education-and-clinical-leadership-a-philosophical-perspective

Chinn, P. L., & Falk-Rafael, A. (2018, August 20). Critical caring pedagogy. Nursology. https://nursology.net/nurse-theories/critical-caring-pedagogy/ 

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. Macmillan.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Macmillan.

McInnis, A., Schlemmer, T., & Chapman, B. (2021). The significance of the NP preceptorship shortage. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1), Manuscript 5. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol26No01Man05

AI Disclosure: ChatGPT was used to assist with editing of the author’s original scholarly work for a blog format. The author reviewed and approved the final content and is responsible for its accuracy and integrity.

About the Contributor

Julie Durand, DNP, MBA, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner, educator, and program leader with a passion for preparing and supporting advanced practice providers throughout their careers. Her work spans nurse practitioner education, clinical practice, and postgraduate APP fellowship training, with a particular interest in creating meaningful learning experiences that connect education with clinical practice. She is currently a PhD student in Nursing Science at Texas Woman’s University, where her scholarly interests focus on advanced practice nursing education, postgraduate training, and professional development.