The purpose of this quantitative comparative research was to determine if there was a statistically significant main effect of teaching method (project-based vs traditional) on second-grade students' learning in mathematics and if gender differences exist between the scores of male and female students in general and the scores of male and female students by teaching method in two elementary schools in a rural county in Virginia. The theoretical foundation for the study was based on the educational philosophy of learning by doing as advocated by John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky's theory of social learning. The sample included 136 individual second-grade student math scores collected from the 2020-21 2nd Grade, 2nd Block Assessment. The ANOVA was conducted using an alpha value of 0.05. The results of the ANOVA were significant, F(3, 132) = 6.49, p < 0.001, indicating that significant differences exist in the students' mathematics test scores among the levels of gender and teaching method. The main effect of teaching method was significant, F(1, 132) = 12.70, p < 0.001, [partial eta-squared] = 0.09, indicating that a significant difference in the student's mathematics scores exist between TTM and PBTM. Specifically, the mathematics test scores for TTM (M = 68.40, SD = 14.95) were significantly lower than PBTM (M = 77.40, SD = 15.02). The results of this study provided empirical evidence of benefits (higher scores) in math, attributable to the project-based teaching method. The results suggest that school districts and school principals should re-evaluate the methods of teaching that are being utilized when selecting the instructional model to be used in the classrooms. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]