Free classification PowerPoint presentations for teachers and students, created by teachers from around the world. There are 53 presentations below covering the characteristics of living things, classification systems and the five kingdoms, microorganisms, plants and animals, from KS3 through GCSE to A level. Click a title to download the slides, then edit them to suit your lessons.
Characteristics of living things PowerPoints
What makes something alive, and the life processes all organisms share.
Back to topicsClassification systems and the five kingdoms PowerPoints
How scientists group and name living things.
- Biological classification
- Classification
- Five kingdom classification
- Diversity of life part 1
- Diversity of life part 2
- Classification of animals
- Classification of plants
Microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, protists and fungi PowerPoints
The smallest living things, how they are classified and the diseases some cause.
- Microbes
- Cholera
- Helicobacter pylori and ulcers
- Viruses
- Virus structure and method of invasion
- Viruses and HIV
- Measles virus
- Rabies virus
- Kingdom protista
- Protista part 2 algae
- Malaria (protists)
- Fungi
- Puccinia fungus
The plant kingdom PowerPoints
Plant groups, from simple plants to flowering plants and trees.
- Introduction to plants
- Why study plants?
- Botany
- Plants
- Plants (2)
- Plants general
- Lower plants
- Plantlets
- Growing plants
- Xerophytes
- Trees as homes
- Apples
- Tridax procumbens: a paper presentation
- History of plant pathology lecture
The animal kingdom PowerPoints
Vertebrates and invertebrates and the features of each group.
- The animal kingdom
- Vertebrates
- Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
- Mammals
- Birds
- Simple animals
- Spiders and insects
- Animal breeds
Variation, adaptation and evolution PowerPoints
Why members of a species differ, how they adapt, and how new species arise.
- Variation and mutation
- Variation and the monohybrid cross
- Adaptation in animals
- Adaptation in animals (2)
- Adaptation (KS4)
- Animal adaptations
- Animal adaptations (2)
- Darwin
- Fossils
Tips for teaching classification with PowerPoint
- Start with a mystery organism. Show a strange creature and ask students which group it belongs to and why.
- Build a key together. Make a simple dichotomous key on screen, one question at a time.
- Use a memorable mnemonic. Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species sticks better with a silly sentence.
- Show the tree of life. A branching diagram helps students see that classification reflects relationships.
- Explain binomial names. Show a few familiar species with their Latin names and what the names mean.
- Finish with a sort. Give students a set of organisms to classify as a quick recap.
More free biology PowerPoints
Back to all biology PowerPoints, or see cell biology, genetics, evolution, ecology and animals and plants. Other sciences: chemistry, physics and astronomy.
Want to explore living things in 3D? Try the VR biology apps reviewed at The XR School.