This study investigates to what extent video recording and inductive problem based learning may enhance the learning potential of students who participate in the laboratory to solve their first exercise in practical nursing skills. Explorative research in the form of video analysis was carried out. A group of seven first-year nursing students was included in the sample. The students were recorded while practicing in the laboratory and later watched their performance to induce reflection on their engagement and participation. The researcher recorded the students while they watched the video from the lab exercise to investigate the extent to which they reflected on their reflection-in-action. The students expressed that they learned significantly from the laboratory exercise and that they would like to use this learning method in other exercises too. The students took great interest in the exercise and wanted to continue although the lesson was over. The results revealed that the students engaged to a large extent in the other students’ performance in the lab. This confirms earlier research findings on inductive learning principles. Also, the students who had the less active role of observing and guiding showed high engagement in the exercise too. All this indicates that the method contributed to mutual engagement and developed the ability to negotiate new meanings that is a community of practice evolved. The study finds that video tracking may allow the teachers to reflect on their own engagement and laboratory teaching, an opportunity they are seldom offered. It seems important that the teacher is present during the laboratory exercise to assist in cases of breakdowns. However, the teacher should only be a facilitator and take a discrete role, so that the students can define their Community of Practice (CoP) on their own. The findings and the experiences from the study will be valuable if the university- college would like to redesign the methods currently used to facilitate and induce learning in practical nursing skills.