Locating Carper's aesthetic pattern of knowing within contemporary nursing evidence, praxis and theory.

Carper's (1978) seminal work has been used in nursing education for many years as a method for introducing students to the multitude of ways of knowing that support nursing practice. This manuscript focuses on the aesthetic pattern of knowing and the ongoing debate in nursing literature surrounding aesthetics, evidence and nursing practice. Writers will describe and critique a strategy used to introduce first year undergraduate nursing students to this pattern of knowing.