H.R. 3397 — Introduced in House

I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3397 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 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 Technology A BILL To 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.