The PEIL workshop class is popular among students. Nevertheless, many students enter the class with the preconceived notion that organic chemistry is very difficult. This lack of confidence could negatively impact
academic performance. Perkins et al. (2004) have shown that greater retention and higher conceptual learning
gains are exhibited by students who enter a course with more favorable beliefs, and that these beliefs can be
influenced by the teaching practices they encounter. In order to investigate to what extent Organic Chemistry
II students’ beliefs benefit from previous experience with a PEIL workshop-based Organic Chemistry I class, we administered the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to students registered in one section of the Organic
Chemistry II course.