Learning is best for students who act as effective agents rather than as powerless patients. Lecture-based instruction selects for students who experience lectures, not as passive exposure to presentation of information, but as an invitation to active construction of meaning. However, even a superb lecture may not elicit such construction where requisite skills, attitudes, or perspectives are absent. What lecturing tacitly invites, Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) explicitly directs. In making the task of construction of understanding explicit, POGIL provides a framework and conception of learning that may be discordant for some students. For students who view chemistry as unconnected algorithms to be triggered by words revealing the “right equation to use,” activities intended to promote conceptual understanding and flexible problem solving can seem appallingly beside-the-point. “Why don't you just tell me what equation to use and what numbers go in it?” the disgruntled student may ask. A legacy of learned helplessness must be overcome. Testing of process and conceptual goals is important. “Frontloading” the semester by teaching process skills, especially problem-solving methodologies, is worthwhile, and sometimes essential to restoring the power of willing initiative. In my second year of using POGIL in a General Chemistry class, student acceptance, morale, and focus seem higher than in my first year. Uncontrollable and inadequately measurable variables make attribution of causes uncertain. Nevertheless, some tentative insights will be offered that may provide help and encouragement for those who are implementing or considering this pedagogy.