Stability is a key and difficult point during the teaching of fundamentals of steel structure design. Taking the teaching of overall stability of axially loaded steel members as an example, we presented the key and difficult points during teaching, and discussed the methods of application of ANSYS software to aid the teaching. The practice indicated that the application of ANSYS software to aid the teaching can improve students' understanding of stability problems, activate their interest of study and benefit to build their scientific literacy and train their ability of thinking, which significantly improved the teaching quality of fundamentals of steel structure design.