Xploration FabLab
By Emily Ashby,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
STEM-based series spotlights people making the world better.
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Xploration FabLab
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What's the Story?
XPLORATION FABLAB turns the spotlight on inventors, activists, and everyday people who have used STEM knowledge (science, technology, engineering, and math) to make a positive impact on the world around them. Each episode features accomplishments related to a particular global issue, from deforestation to helping the disabled, and introduces people whose accomplishments have contributed to improvements for the people and places involved.
Is It Any Good?
This STEM-themed series looks to win tween and teen fans with its four hip hosts (one even has a lip ring) and a bevy of youthful subjects whose achievements are rightfully applauded. In every case, their work was inspired merely by observing a need, whether in their own communities or halfway across the world. Many of the issues will be familiar to viewers and their kids, but some might stand out as something you've never given any thought to. Either way, Xploration FabLab will inspire you to think beyond the identification of a concern and consider how it might be helped.
While the show doesn't impart actual STEM education, it does touch on how certain concepts and technological advances contribute to the activism and products featured. This keeps the focus on the bigger picture of bettering the world rather than on the nuts and bolts of how exactly to go about it, which makes it more enticing to kids who look to TV more for entertainment than for learning. In any case, it raises numerous topics you can discuss (and perhaps act on) with your kids after the episode's end.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what inspires people to change the world for other people (or animals). How does it feel to help someone else, even without anything gained for yourself? Can you be equally inspired to support a cause that doesn't involve people's needs? Does Xploration FabLab inspire you?
Kids: Do you like STEM learning? If so, what aspect is your favorite? What applications of it do you recognize in your daily life? How have technological advances improved our safety? Our health? Our overall quality of life?
What causes do you support as a family? How do they reflect your values? Could you do more, either for those causes or for another issue about which you're passionate? Which needs exist in your community? In your state? In your country?
How does Xploration FabLab promote curiosity? Why is this an important character strength?
TV Details
- Premiere date: January 2, 2016
- Network: Fox
- Genre: Educational
- Topics: Activism, Great Boy Role Models, Great Girl Role Models, Robots, Science and Nature
- Character Strengths: Curiosity
- TV rating: TV-PG
- Last updated: September 20, 2019
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