The goal in this quantitative, comparative study was to examine differences in students' achievement depending on type of pedagogy--productive failure (PF) versus NPF--and gender (female vs. male) in the final content unit of an undergraduate general education mathematics course taught at a university in the Southwest U.S. The study was based on cognition and learning theory and foundational work conducted by Kapur on PF pedagogy. The researcher used archival data from a cohort of 2,417 students. The results of nonparametric analysis (without controlling for students' baseline performance in mathematics) suggested a positive effect of the PF pedagogy. Mann-Whitney U test results showed significantly higher exam scores in the PF group than in the NPF group (U = 421719, z = 3.946, p < 0.001), and better performance of female students compared to males U = 332747, z = 3.617, p < 0.001. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis H test indicated statistically significant differences among the four groups defined by the two independent variables, X[superscript 2](3) = 31.284, p < 0.001. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons identified three statistically significant differences: between the NPF male students and the PF female students (z = 4.831, p < 0.001); in the female group, between the NPF and the PF subgroups (z = -4.540, p < 0.001); and in the male group, between the NPF and the PF subgroups (z = -2.900, p = 0.004). These results indicated both gender groups benefited significantly from the PF pedagogy, with stronger gains for the females. The findings warrant further research on the benefits of PF pedagogy in college mathematics courses. [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://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]