Kolb's (1984) theory of experiential learning was used as a framework to study 50 baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of the contributions of a senior preceptorship experience to the development of adaptive competencies. Nursing learning environments were thought to contribute most to divergent and convergent competencies, reflecting the importance of both people-oriented and scientific skills in nursing. The preceptorship had a significant impact on most learning competencies. Significant increases occurred in competencies considered not important for nursing by students prior to the experience, e.g., assimilative competencies such as testing theories and ideas, and accommodative competencies such as leading and influencing others. These results support the notion of further research of nursing learning environments from the experiential learning perspective.