115 HR 3397 IH: Building Blocks of STEM Act U.S. House of Representatives 2017-07-25 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I115th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 3397IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJuly 25, 2017Ms. Rosen (for herself, Mr. Knight, Mr. Evans, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Hanabusa, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Esty of Connecticut, Mr. Crist, Ms. Slaughter, and Mr. Soto) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and TechnologyA BILLTo direct the National Science Foundation to support STEM education research focused on early childhood.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Building Blocks of STEM Act.

2.

Findings

The Congress finds the following: (1)The National Science Foundation has made the largest financial investment in STEM education of all Federal agencies, and plays a very powerful role in helping to set research and policy agendas. (2)Studies have found that children who engage in scientific activities from an early age develop positive attitudes toward science and are more likely to pursue STEM expertise and careers later on. (3)However, the majority of current research focuses on increasing STEM opportunities for students in middle school and older. (4)Women remain widely underrepresented in the STEM workforce and this gender disparity extends down through all levels of education. Strategic funding of programs is needed in order to understand and address the root cause of this gap.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Early childhood

The term early childhood applies to children from birth through the age of 10. (2)

STEM

The terms STEM means science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including computer science.

4.

Supporting STEM research on early childhood

In awarding grants under the Discovery Research PreK–12 program, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall consider age distribution in order to more equitably allocate funding for research studies with a focus on early childhood.