Free evolution PowerPoint presentations for teachers and students, created by teachers from around the world. There are 45 presentations below covering Darwin and natural selection, adaptation, variation and inheritance, classification and populations, from KS3 through GCSE to A level. Click a title to download the slides, then edit them to suit your lessons.
Darwin and natural selection PowerPoints
Darwin’s theory, how natural selection works and evidence from fossils.
- Darwin
- Natural selection
- Natural selection in action
- Natural selection model
- Evolution in present times
- Fossils
Adaptation PowerPoints
How animals and plants are suited to where they live.
- Adaptation in animals
- Adaptation in animals (2)
- Adaptation (KS4)
- Animal adaptations
- Animal adaptations (2)
- Animal behaviour
- In their natural habitats
Variation and inheritance PowerPoints
The variation natural selection acts on, and how characteristics are inherited.
- Variation and mutation
- Variation and the monohybrid cross
- Genetic traits
- Genetics: inheritance
- Inheritance basic
- Inheritance assessment
- Genetic crosses
- Gregor Mendel
- Mendel
- Mendelian genetics
- Mendel’s law of segregation
- Sex linkage
- Meiosis
- Sexual reproduction
- Animal breeds
Classification and biodiversity PowerPoints
The characteristics of living things and how species are grouped.
- Characteristics of life
- Characteristics of living things
- Classification
- Classification of animals
- Classification of plants
- Diversity of life part 1
- Diversity of life part 2
- The animal kingdom
- Simple animals
Populations and interdependence PowerPoints
Competition, predators and prey and how species depend on each other.
- Populations
- Characteristics of a population
- Predators and prey
- Interactions of life: communities
- Symbiosis
- Symbiosis (2)
- Symbiosis (3)
- Symbiosis and homeostasis
Tips for teaching evolution with PowerPoint
- Start with a puzzle. Show the peppered moth or antibiotic resistant bacteria and ask students to explain the change.
- Model natural selection. A quick game where "predators" pick out coloured paper on a background shows selection in action.
- Use a timeline. A slide of Earth’s history to scale shows just how long evolution has had.
- Show the evidence. Fossils, anatomy and DNA comparisons each deserve their own slide.
- Tell Darwin’s story. The voyage of the Beagle and the Galapagos finches make the theory memorable.
- Finish with key terms. Variation, selection, adaptation and inheritance are worth a summary slide every time.
More free biology PowerPoints
Back to all biology PowerPoints, or see cell biology, genetics, classification, ecology and animals and plants. Other sciences: chemistry, physics and astronomy.
Want to explore evolution in 3D? Try the VR biology apps reviewed at The XR School.