The study was carried out to examine learners’ attitude and Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Mathematics in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Two research questions were posed and two corresponding hypotheses were equally formulated. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. The population of the study consisted of all the 10,818 S.S.2 students in the eight local government areas in Bayelsa State whereas the sample size of the study was 480 obtained through cluster random sampling techniques. Two instruments were used to obtain data for the study which include Mathematics Attitude Inventory (MAI) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT). The Mathematics Achievement Test was validated by two senior secondary school teachers while the reliability of the instrument was 0.77 obtained using alternate form reliability method. Other instrument was standardized instrument whose validation and reliability have been established over time. Mean, standard deviation and t-test statistics were used to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses respectively. Findings of the study revealed that there is a significant difference in the academic performance of students with positive and negative attitudes in mathematics in Bayelsa State secondary schools. The study recommended amongst others that Mathematics teachers should develop a very friendly attitudes to students during lesson, this could motivate students who possess low or no interest to mathematics.
Keywords: Achievement, Learners, Mathematics, Students, attitude
