S. 737 

One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE FIRST SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and nineteen 

An Act 

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. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) The National Science Foundation is a large investor 

in STEM education and plays a key role in setting research 

and policy agendas. 

(2) While 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, the majority of current research 

focuses on increasing STEM opportunities for middle schoolaged children and older. 

(3) Women remain widely underrepresented in the STEM 

workforce, and this disparity extends down through all levels 

of education. 

SEC. 3. SUPPORTING EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ELEMENTARY STEM 

EDUCATION RESEARCH. 

In awarding grants under the Discovery Research PreK–12 

program, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall 

consider the age distribution of a STEM education research and 

development project to improve the focus of research and development on elementary and prekindergarten education. 

SEC. 4. SUPPORTING FEMALE STUDENTS IN PREKINDERGARTEN 

THROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN STEM EDUCATION. 

Section 305(d) of the American Innovation and Competitiveness 

Act (42 U.S.C. 1862s–5(d)) is amended by adding at the end the 

following: 

‘‘(3) RESEARCH.—As a component of improving participation 

of women in STEM fields, research funded by a grant under 

this subsection may include research on— 

‘‘(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 

female students in prekindergarten through elementary 

school from participating in STEM activities; 
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‘‘(B) the role of teachers in shaping perceptions of 

STEM in female students in prekindergarten through 

elementary school and discouraging such students from 

participating in STEM activities; 

‘‘(C) the role of other facets of the learning environment 

on the willingness of female students in prekindergarten 

through elementary school to participate in STEM activities, including learning materials and textbooks, seating 

arrangements, use of media and technology, classroom culture, and composition of students during group work; 

‘‘(D) the role of parents and other caregivers in encouraging or discouraging female students in prekindergarten 

through elementary school from participating in STEM 

activities; 

‘‘(E) the types of STEM activities that encourage 

greater participation by female students in prekindergarten 

through elementary school; 

‘‘(F) the role of mentorship and best practices in finding 

and utilizing mentors; and 

‘‘(G) the role of informal and after-school STEM 

learning opportunities on the perception of and participation in STEM activities of female students in prekindergarten through elementary school.’’. 

SEC. 5. SUPPORTING FEMALE STUDENTS IN PREKINDERGARTEN 

THROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN COMPUTER SCIENCE 

EDUCATION. 

Section 310(b) of the American Innovation and Competitiveness 

Act (42 U.S.C. 1862s–7(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 

following: 

‘‘(3) USES OF FUNDS.—The tools and models described in 

paragraph (2)(C) may include— 

‘‘(A) offering training and professional development 

programs, including summer or academic year institutes 

or workshops, designed to strengthen the capabilities of 

prekindergarten and elementary school teachers and to 

familiarize such teachers with the role of bias against 

female students in the classroom; 

‘‘(B) offering innovative pre-service and in-service programs that instruct teachers on female-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 or adapting prekindergarten and 

elementary school computer science curricular materials 

that incorporate contemporary research on the science of 

learning, particularly with respect to female inclusion; 

‘‘(E) developing and offering female-inclusive computer 

science enrichment programs for students, including afterschool and summer programs; 

‘‘(F) providing mentors for female students in prekindergarten through elementary school to support such 

students in participating in computer science activities; 
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‘‘(G) engaging female students in prekindergarten 

through elementary school, and their guardians (if such 

communication takes place on school premises during 

otherwise-scheduled conferences or formal conversations 

between teachers and guardians) about— 

‘‘(i) the difficulties faced by female students with 

regard to maintaining an interest in participating in 

computer science activities; and 

‘‘(ii) the potential positive career benefits of 

engaging in such activities; 

‘‘(H) acquainting female students in prekindergarten 

through elementary school with careers in computer science 

and encouraging such students to consider careers in the 

computer science field; and 

‘‘(I) developing tools to evaluate activities conducted 

under this subsection, including reports for evaluating the 

effectiveness of activities under this section.’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.