Honors Physics
Unit 08 – Electricity and Electric Fields

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These materials were designed and used in an Honors Physics classroom during the 2025–2026 school year.

The unit reflects a structured instructional approach including direct instruction, guided practice, laboratory investigation, and formative and summative assessment.

This folder contains instructional materials for a high school Honors Physics unit on electricity and electric fields.

The unit begins with electric circuits and current, progresses through Ohm’s Law and electrical power, and concludes with electrostatics, Coulomb’s Law, and electric fields. Students investigate these topics through guided lessons, worksheets, laboratory experiments, and assessments.

The materials were developed for classroom use and emphasize conceptual understanding, algebraic reasoning, and real-world applications of electromagnetism.

Note: Some lessons reference materials from the PASCO Essential Physics textbook. These publisher resources are not included due to copyright restrictions.

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FOLDER STRUCTURE

01_Lessons
Core lesson documents used for classroom instruction.

02_Mini_Lessons
Short concept explanations and review slides used to introduce or reinforce key ideas. These are often used at the beginning of class or as brief instructional refreshers.

03_Worksheets
Guided practice problems and structured exercises for students. Many worksheets emphasize proportional reasoning and step-by-step problem solving.

04_Labs
Hands-on laboratory activities including circuit construction, resistance investigations, and electric field mapping.

05_Assessments
Quizzes and unit tests used to evaluate student understanding throughout the unit.

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SUGGESTED TEACHING SEQUENCE

1. Electric circuits and voltage
2. Resistance and Ohm’s Law
3. Electrical power and compound circuits
4. Electric forces (Coulomb’s Law)
5. Electric fields

A detailed lesson sequence and pacing guide can be found in:

Unit_Overview_and_Lesson_Sequence.pdf

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NOTES

• Materials are designed for a typical high school physics course.
• Lessons assume basic algebra skills.
• Many documents are written in LaTeX and can be easily modified.


This unit was designed to progress from concrete electrical systems (circuits) toward more abstract electrostatic concepts such as Coulomb's Law and electric fields.

Students first develop an understanding of current, voltage, and resistance through hands-on circuit investigations before transitioning to electrostatic forces and field concepts.
