Basic Electronics Textbooks?

I'm looking at teaching a class this fall in basic electrical theory. This class is aimed at 12-16yr-old kids, and I intend to cover Ohm's law, Thevenin equivalent circuits, etc. No Capacitance/inductance. Basicly I'm planning on covering theory & safety, Hitting Ohm's law hard, and how to use a multimeter. Give them some resistors, LED's and light bulbs to play with, and have fun with it. 8 2-hour classes, with ~2 hours homework assigned.

Now, I'm a union electrician, and so I looked up the books that I learned out of, but it's $98 for the NJATC DC Theory textbook, + $10 for the workbook. That's a little pricey for 12yr olds. The cost of the course will be ~$40 for my time, plus ~$10-$30 for lab materials and the textbook would bump the price to ~$160.

So I started looking for cheaper or even free textbooks. I mean, this information has been around for at least the last hundred years or so, there MUST be something worthwhile out there...

But I have yet to find anything I really like.

It must cover:
1. E=IR and P=IE.
2. parallel and series etc calculations.
3. generators/alternators.
4. cover electrical safety and how to use and read a multimeter.
5. NOT involve calculus or systems of equations. Basic algebra only, remember the audience.

Preferably it:
1. Includes exercises and problems which I can assign as homework.
2. Is available free online.
3. Is available cheap printed for reference during class. (<$30)

Frankly, I really enjoyed the course I took, and comparisons to the NJATC textbook may be prejudicing my judgement here.

Things I found:
Wikibooks Contains calculus and systems of equations, no good. Doesn't have exercises.
All About Circuits Which I like, but no paper copies are available. Exercises exist.
Play Hookey Is a bit eclectic, doesn't have paper copy available or any exercises.

I'm currently inclined to go with the allaboutcircuits one. I'm not sure I like the supplied exercises, and I'd feel like I should replace some of them, but that's probably going to happen no matter the textbook.

So what does this have to do with RepRaps? Well, nothing directly I suppose. Besides clandestinely recruiting help with my own reprap projects and infusing the next generation with a passion for all things electrical. Both worthy goals, I think.

---

--
I'm building it with Baling Wire

[www.amazon.com]
Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz fulfills some of your requirements, although it doesn't have exercises.

---

-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

---

Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

... for the more 'practical' part you can download Fritzing

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]