Used as a reflective practicum, contextual learning can be a model of clinical learning in nursing education that develops the contextual, reflective nature of critical thinking.

Nursing students who had the DML debriefing scored significantly higher in their clinical reasoning than nursing students who had usual and customary debriefing.

The RPI stimulated double loop learning that changed paediatric critical care nurses' attitudes about family, enhanced their communication and ability to build trusting relationships with families and brought about a new appreciation of the uniqueness of family stress. There was a new integration of family care into the nurses' practice as a result of the intervention.

Nursing educators need to continue to explore ways that new pedagogies such as narrative pedagogy and reflective practice inform and extend students' thinking in classroom and clinical situations. The goal of instruction becomes creating an opportunity for learning that integrates content knowledge with knowledge of the context. Educational methodologies that incorporate the use of context in a reflective, dialogical approach over time hold much promise in developing a dynamic process of thinking in practice. Contextual learning is a reflective learning intervention that offers new possibilities for nurse educators to prepare nurses to think critically in practice. In this expository paper the design and instructional methodology of contextual learning is discussed, beginning with a brief overview of the nature of critical thinking and the use of narrative as major underpinnings in the development of this intervention. Examples of how the intervention was implemented with novice nurses in practice is provided. Finally, reflections on how the intervention could be refined for nursing students is offered.

Preceptor education should incorporate the following components: understanding the impact of power and anxiety on critical thinking of novice nurses transitioning into practice; creating dialogue that invites questions in a reflective and critical manner; and challenging thinking through sharing of perspectives.