Title: Building Blocks of STEM Act
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Building Blocks of STEM Act
This bill instructs the National Science Foundation, when awarding grants under the Discovery Research PreK-12 program, to consider age distribution in order to more equitably allocate funding for research studies with a focus on early childhood.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3397 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3397

  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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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) 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.

SEC. 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.
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