Information Technologies and Learning Tools

In the modern era of digital globalization, it is becoming more and more important to train sociology students in the field of demographics and demographic statistics based not only on demographic theories but also on the practical application of the new computer tools and technologies, databases and Internet services. The article analyzes the capabilities of modern computer tools for the analysis of demographic processes and structures in training sociology students; substantiates the use of the R environment as a tool for analysis and graphical representation of demographic data. It presents the idea of teaching students to perform computer analysis of demographic data using a combination of Excel spreadsheets, SPSS statistical package, R environment illustrated by two examples. The first example concerns building and comparing the gender-age pyramid of the population of Ukraine at different years and includes searching for the relevant data, building the pyramid using standard diagram building Excel tools, using SPSS tools (Chart Builder, Histogram, Population Pyramid), and using pyramid package of R environment. The second example relates to calculation of childcare and grandparent care load coefficients, visualizing their dynamics, and includes an introduction to the demographic passport of Ukraine. The article presents the developed methodological support for teaching sociology students to perform demographic data analysis, including presentation-lectures on the fundamental principles of work in R and R Studio environment, laboratory works (theory summary, detailed operative instructions, control questions, tasks for students ‘ independent work); data packages attached to every assignment. The author has analyzed the didactic capabilities of the free Gapminder service that includes the list of the tools titled `Play with Data`, bubble chart, maps, ranking, trends, age pyramids. This provides colorful and dynamic data visualization for chosen demographic criteria (depending on the research objectives) by countries and continents over time that stimulates the students to conduct additional scientific research.

computer data analysis; demographic data; Excel; SPSS; environment R; information and communication technologies; Gapminder; students-sociologists

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