A curated guide to educational games for teachers

Educational resource EdSurge has compiled a useful list of educational games for the classroom, broken down by subject matter, platform and price range. The list includes some traditional mainstays like Oregon Trail but also includes a roster of mainstream games and mods useful for education, including Rovio's Angry Birds (physics), Firaxis's Civilization V (history) and Garry Newman's Garry's Mod. Also included in the guide are brief descriptions for each title, particularly geared toward explaining the game's educational significance. "The game sneaks in ideas about probability, ratios, and volume so stealthily that players never find the broccoli 'neath the chocolate," the EdSurge guide says of Minecraft, while describing Civilization as a useful "conversation starter" for history students. Several of the games on the list are either free-to-play or entirely free for open use, including Linden Lab's Second Life, which the guide promotes for communication courses. While it isn't an exhaustive guide, it's a handy overview of free and low-cost games for education, with some notable emphasis on games by independent developers as well.