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Fran Riga

Position/Status
  • Research Assistant
E-mail Address

fr223@cam.ac.uk

Phone

(+44) 01223 767631

Qualifications
  • BSc, PGCE, MEd
  • At present a registered PhD student in the Faculty of Education

Profile

Fran Riga has taught science and mathematics in secondary schools in South Africa, in an American international school in Greece, and in comprehensive schools in England. She is currently undertaking part-time doctoral research into student learning in astronomy, and is a part-time research assistant in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge where she has worked on the ASCEND (Able Students Collectively Exploring New Demands) project - an SEP-funded project, and the Assessment in Secondary Schools project. A recent publication is: Working together to provide enrichment for able science learners. In Science education for gifted learners (Routledge).

Research Topics

  • Secondary school students' ideas in Astronomy
  • Case studies based on trainee teachers' perceptions of Assessment
  • Secondary school students' ideas about the relationship between scientific knowledge and religious belief

Current Research Projects

  • ASCEND (Able Students Collectively Exploring New Demands) project
  • Assessment in Secondary Schools project
  • LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion)

Publications

Riga, F., Taber, K. S., Brindley, S., Winterbottom, M., Fisher, L. G., Finney, J. (2008) Learning about 'assessment for learning' - trainee teachers' perceptions of the purposes and nature of school assessment. To be published in conference proceedings of the International Association for Educational Assessment Conference in Cambridge, UK, September 2008

Winterbottom, M., Taber, K. S., Brindley, S., Fisher, L. G., Finney, J. and Riga, F. (2008) Understanding differences in trainee teachers' values and practice in relation to assessment, Teacher Development, 12(1), 15-35

Riga, F. (2008) Students' ideas in astronomy: a study using grounded theory. In conference proceedings of ASE (Association for Science Education) / BERA (British Educational Research Association) Conference in Liverpool, UK, January 2008

Taber, K. and Riga, F. (2007) Working together to provide enrichment for able science learners, in Keith S. Taber (Ed) Science Education for Gifted Learners. London: Routledge

K. Taber, (Researcher: F. Riga. (2007) Enriching School Science for the Gifted Learner. Handbook with accompanying CD

Riga, F. (2007) Learning about astronomy in school science. Paper presented at CamERA Conference, Cambridge, UK, April 2007

Taber, K. and Riga, F. (2006) Lessons from the Ascend project: able pupils' responses to an enrichment programme exploring the nature of science. School Science Review, 87(321), 97-106

Book reviews:

'Planetary Science: the science of planets around stars' by George H. A. Cole and Michael M. Woolfson, in The Higher Education Academy Reviews (2008), No. 16 Vol. 9 Issue 1

'Astronomy: Principles and Practice' by A. E. Roy and D. Clarke, in The Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences Educational Reviews (2006), No. 12 Vol. 7 Issue 1