Dustin Lambert’s voice echoed across the floor of Charleston’s Coliseum and Convention Center on Thursday afternoon as help get the place ready for the next day’s doings.
In the next 24 hours, the cavernous venue would be echoing with the sounds of 500 voices – students in town for the state Social Studies Fair – and he was looking forward to the joyful, academic noise.
“Yeah, this a big deal,” said Lambert, the state social studies coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education. “We’re excited for our kids.”
Students from third grade through senior year are taking part in this year’s fair, with the proceedings, the former Advanced Placement history teacher said, more relevant than ever for the latest crop of 21st century students.
Thirty-seven of West Virginia’s 55 counties are represented at this year’s fair.
In a mondo-information age, Lambert said, a social studies fair requires a scholarly, measured approach.
Poster board displays, talking points and a question-and-answer format between judges and participants have a way of doing that, he said.
“Our kids get to show off their academic prowess and their poise,” he said. “They have to know the material to effectively present it.”
And public speaking, in a post-pandemic age, the coordinator added, is always to be celebrated.
“Our kids were very much isolated throughout the pandemic,” Lambert said.
“They were sequestered in front a screen and they were missing out on that give-and-take.”
After all, Lambert said, a well-placed question from the audience just might prompt a student to tap into an observation – he didn’t know he knew.
State Schools Superintendent David Roach is a fan.
“This is an example of experiential learning that students will remember for the rest of their lives,” Roach said of this year’s presentation that delves into subjects as diverse as anthropology to Appalachia.
West Virginia’s first state Social Studies Fair was 1977.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
