[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3397 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 420
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3397
[Report No. 115-558]
To direct the National Science Foundation to support STEM education
research focused on early childhood.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 25, 2017
Ms. 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 Technology
February 13, 2018
Additional sponsors: Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Takano, Mr.
Lipinski, Mr. Peters, Ms. Norton, Miss Rice of New York, Mrs. Murphy of
Florida, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Foster, Mr. Ted Lieu of
California, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Eshoo, Mr.
Quigley, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Bera, Ms. Jayapal, and Mr. Faso
February 13, 2018
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July
25, 2017]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the National Science Foundation to support STEM education
research focused on early childhood.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Building Blocks of STEM Act''.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the National Science Foundation.
(2) Early childhood.--The term ``early childhood'' applies
to children from birth through the age of 10.
(3) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001(a)).
(4) Local educational agency.--The term ``local educational
agency'' has the meaning given the term in section 8101 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 USC 7801),
except that such term also includes preschools, after-school
programs, and summer programs.
(5) STEM.--The term ``STEM'' has the meaning given the term
in section 2 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621 note).
(6) Young girls.--The term ``young girls'' means female
individuals who have not attained the age of 11.
SEC. 4. SUPPORTING STEM RESEARCH ON EARLY CHILDHOOD.
In awarding grants under the Discovery Research PreK-12 program,
the Director shall consider age distribution in order to more equitably
allocate funding for research studies with a focus on early childhood.
SEC. 5. SUPPORTING GIRLS IN STEM EDUCATION AND COMPUTER SCIENCE.
(a) Research Grants.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall award grants, on a
competitive basis, to institutions of higher education or
nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such institutions or
organizations), to accelerate research efforts to increase
understanding of the factors that contribute to the
participation of young girls in STEM activities.
(2) Research areas.--Research areas funded by a grant under
this subsection may include--
(A) the role of teacher training and professional
development, including effective incentive structures
to encourage teachers to participate in such training
and professional development, in encouraging or
discouraging young girls from participating in STEM
activities;
(B) the role of teachers in shaping young girls'
perceptions of STEM and discouraging such girls from
participating in STEM activities;
(C) the role of other facets of the learning
environment on the willingness of young girls to
participate in STEM activities, including learning
materials and textbooks, classroom decorations, seating
arrangements, use of media and technology, classroom
culture, and gender composition of students during
group work;
(D) the role of parents and other caregivers in
encouraging or discouraging young girls from
participating in STEM activities;
(E) the types of STEM activities that elicit
greater participation by young girls;
(F) the role of mentorship and best practices in
finding and utilizing mentors;
(G) the role of informal and out-of-school STEM
learning opportunities on girls' perception of and
participation in STEM activities; and
(H) any other activity the Director determines will
accomplish the goals of this subsection.
(3) Grant recipient report.--An entity awarded a grant
under this subsection shall report to the Director, at such
time and in such manner as the Director may require, on the
activities carried out and materials developed using such grant
funds.
(b) Development and Testing of Scalable Models for Increased
Engagement.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall award grants, on a
competitive basis, to institutions of higher education or
nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such institutions or
organizations), to develop and evaluate interventions in pre-K
and elementary school classrooms that increase participation of
young girls in computer science activities.
(2) Partnerships.--In order to be eligible to receive a
grant under this subsection, an institute of higher education,
nonprofit organization, or consortium, shall enter into a
partnership with one or more local educational agency or State
in carrying out the activities funded by such grant.
(3) Uses of funds.--Grants awarded under this subsection
shall be used for activities that draw upon the expertise of
the partner entities described in paragraph (2) to increase
participation of young girls in computer science activities,
including--
(A) offering training and professional development
programs, including summer or academic year institutes
or workshops, designed to strengthen the capabilities
of pre-K and elementary school teachers and to
familiarize such teachers with the role of gender bias
in the classroom;
(B) offering innovative preservice and in-service
programs that instruct teachers on gender-inclusive
practices for teaching computing concepts;
(C) developing distance learning programs for
teachers or students, including developing curricular
materials, play-based computing activities, and other
resources for the in-service professional development
of teachers that are made available to teachers through
the Internet;
(D) developing a cadre of master teachers who will
promote reform and the adoption of gender-inclusive
practices in teaching computer science concepts in
early childhood education;
(E) developing tools to evaluate activities
conducted under this subsection;
(F) developing or adapting pre-K and elementary
school computer science curricular materials that
incorporate contemporary research on the science of
learning, particularly with respect to gender
inclusion;
(G) developing and offering gender-inclusive
computer science enrichment programs for students,
including after-school and summer programs;
(H) providing mentors for girls in person and
through the Internet to support such girls in
participating in computer science activities;
(I) engaging parents of girls about the
difficulties faced by girls to maintain an interest and
desire to participate in computer science activities,
and enlisting the help of parents in overcoming these
difficulties;
(J) acquainting girls with careers in computer
science and encouraging girls to consider careers in
such field; and
(K) any other activities the Director determines
will accomplish the goals of this subsection.
(4) Grant recipient report.--An entity awarded a grant
under this subsection shall report to the Director, at such
time and in such manner as the Director may require, on the
activities carried out, materials developed using such grant
funds, and the outcomes for students served by such grant.
(5) Evaluation required.--Not later than 4 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall evaluate the
grant program under this subsection. At a minimum, such
evaluation shall--
(A) use a common set of benchmarks and assessment
tools to identify best practices and materials
developed and demonstrated by the partnerships
described in paragraph (2); and
(B) to the extent practicable, compare the
effectiveness of practices and materials developed and
demonstrated by such partnerships with those of
partnerships funded by other local or State government
or Federal Government programs.
(6) Dissemination of results.--
(A) Evaluation results.--The Director shall make
publicly available free of charge on an Internet
website and shall submit to Congress the results of the
evaluation required under paragraph (5).
(B) Materials.--The Director shall ensure that
materials developed under a program funded by a grant
under this subsection, that are demonstrated to be
effective in achieving the goals of this subsection (as
determined by the Director), are made publicly
available free of charge on an Internet website,
including through an arrangement with an outside
entity.
(7) Annual meeting.--The Director may convene an annual
meeting of the partnerships participating in a program funded
by a grant under this subsection, for the purpose of fostering
greater national collaboration.
(8) Technical assistance.--At the request of a partnership
seeking a grant under this subsection, the Director shall
provide the partnership with technical assistance in meeting
any requirement of this subsection.
SEC. 6. COMPUTER SCIENCE IN THE ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP
PROGRAM.
Section 10 of the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of
2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n-1) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and mathematics'' each place it appears
and inserting ``mathematics, informatics, and computer
science'';
(2) in subsection (a)(3)(B), by striking ``or mathematics''
and inserting ``mathematics, informatics, and computer
science'';
(3) in subsections (b)(1)(D)(i), (c)(1)(A), (d)(1), and
(i)(7), by striking ``or mathematics'' each place it appears
and inserting ``mathematics, informatics, or computer
science''; and
(4) in subsection (i)(5), by striking ``or mathematics''
and inserting ``mathematics, or computer science''.
Union Calendar No. 420
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3397
[Report No. 115-558]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the National Science Foundation to support STEM education
research focused on early childhood.
_______________________________________________________________________
February 13, 2018
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed