I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5477 
To provide for the establishment at the National Science Foundation of 
a program to promote and assist the teaching of inventiveness and innovation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2006 
Mr. HONDA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the establishment at the National Science 
Foundation of a program to promote and assist the 
teaching of inventiveness and innovation. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innovations for our 
Nation’s Vital Educational Needs for Technology Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Invention, the wellspring of innovation, is 
the basic source of the economic wellbeing and qual-
ity of life enjoyed in the developed world today. 
(2) There have been enormous differences in 
the capabilities of different societies to invent, to 
carry the inventions into practice, and to adopt the 
inventions of other societies, and maintaining those 
capabilities will be key for the future wellbeing of 
the United States. 
(3) Federal support of individual investigators 
doing basic research has been effective in leading to 
scientific discovery, but less effective in enabling 
those investigators to turn those discoveries into in-
vention. 
(4) The process of invention and the traits of 
the inventive mind can be enhanced by education 
and fostered by appropriate societal support. 
(5) In formal education, every student deserves 
the opportunity to learn more about the nature of 
invention and to acquire some simple basic skills and 
generative attitudes. 
SEC. 3. INVENTIVENESS CURRICULUM MATERIALS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The National 
Science Foundation shall establish a competitive grant 
program, with the goal of developing, and making avail-
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able for use at the elementary, secondary, and under-
graduate levels within 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, curriculum tools that will help foster inventive-
ness. 
(b) MATERIALS.—The curriculum materials devel-
oped under the program established under this section 
shall— 
(1) leverage existing knowledge on how the in-
ventive mind works on behalf of a more inventive so-
ciety to address key challenges of today’s world, 
through— 
(A) emphasizing adventure, excitement, 
and mystery as much as the analytical and 
technical side of invention; 
(B) encouraging inventive thinking that 
crosses boundaries of convention, expectation, 
and disciplines; and 
(C) anticipating that there will be unantici-
pated consequences of invention, an enduring 
lesson from history; 
(2) strengthen those aspects of the education 
process that enhance creativity in general, and tech-
nological inventiveness in particular, including— 
(A) open-ended, problem solving assign-
ments; 
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(B) historical study of the social and polit-
ical implications of inventions and new tech-
nologies; 
(C) universities seeking research projects 
and external collaborations, and policies that 
promote inventive creativity of students and 
faculty; 
(D) appropriate supporting infrastructure, 
which should be fostered to enable teachers to 
utilize new teaching methods and materials; and 
(E) hands-on activities, visual thinking ex-
periences, historical case studies, and ‘‘how 
things work’’ exercises for all students, not just 
engineering or science majors; and 
(3) initiate, strengthen, and expand initiatives 
to involve young people directly in the invention 
process, including— 
(A) efforts to support teams in high 
schools and colleges that work collaboratively 
with the private or local government sectors to 
invent useful products or processes; 
(B) realistic, open-ended, design-oriented 
activities, which can be included in university 
engineering courses, with the primary goal of 
teaching the important principles of a field in 
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ways that will promote inventive creativity in 
the application of these principles; 
(C) a network of community centers, ‘‘in-
vention homes’’, or ‘‘free workshops’’ that 
would provide access to the tools, materials, and 
flexible space so important to invention, to be 
based in schools, museums, or other locations; 
(D) workshops that would allow teachers 
to learn by experience how to effectively lead a 
project-based classroom; and 
(E) networks of innovators and social en-
trepreneurs both domestically and internation-
ally. 
(c) DISSEMINATION.—The National Science Founda-
tion shall develop and implement measures, including 
workshops, for the dissemination of curriculum tools devel-
oped under this section. 
SEC. 4. INVENTIVENESS PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the National Science Foundation shall imple-
ment a public awareness and outreach campaign relating 
to invention and inventiveness. The public awareness and 
outreach campaign shall— 
(1) foster public events, including competitions, 
public displays, traveling exhibitions, and other ways 
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