SUMMARY
The article looks at the means of forming the research skills of students of pedagogical universities. Considerable attention is paid to the formation of students' creative thinking in the process of solving problems with parameters. A large number of applied problems, economic, physical, chemical, biological, technical, medical, etc., involve solving problems with parameters (within the framework of the constructed mathematical model). Tasks with parameters require more general research than ordinary equations, inequalities and their systems. In the article, solving problems with parameters is accompanied by graphical visualization followed by the use of the analytical method. CAS Maxima is used for graphical visualization (animation). The choice of tasks with parameters is due to the fact that mathematical, logical thinking and the ability to analyze, compare, synthesize, develop research skills evolve in the course of their solution. All this should lead to the search and introduction of new forms of pedagogy and technologies in education. The main component of the methodology here is computer-oriented, namely the use of a computer mathematics system. Using systems of computer mathematics, the student can improve the programming technique and ability to focus on the analysis of methods, immerse in the features of such concepts as the conditionality of the problem, the stability of the method, evaluation of the results of calculations. In this paper, we used the CAS Maxima animation tools with the wxMaxima graphical shell to investigate the problems with the parameters. The choice of the Maxima system is due to the following reasons: it is a freely distributed system, distributed under the GNU/GPL license; there are implementations under various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, MacOS; it offers intuitive interface and is easy and reliable in operation. The results of the study show that training of modern specialists, the development of their professional potential can only be effective provided that students are involved in research activities throughout their course of study.