Title: To require the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish a grant program to make grants to eligible entities to develop instructional content on artificial intelligence, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
This bill directs the National Science Foundation (NSF), beginning not later than January 1, 2022, to award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities (e.g. a state research agency, a federal research agency, and an institution of higher education) to research the development of instructional content for teachers of a public elementary school or secondary school in accordance with a comprehensive and structured series of exercises (1) appropriate to each grade level; and (2) designed to convey the principles behind, mechanics of, and societal implications or ethics of the use of artificial intelligence; and (3) provide teaching instructions for teachers at elementary schools or secondary schools on such mechanisms when needed.
The NSF shall establish, and appoint individuals to, a review board to select the grant recipients.
The bill includes as a mathematics and science teacher, with respect to the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, a teacher at an elementary school or secondary school who instructs from a curriculum that incorporates, to a substantial degree, quantitative data analysis.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8390 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8390

To require the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish 
    a grant program to make grants to eligible entities to develop 
    instructional content on artificial intelligence, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2020

Mr. Tonko (for himself and Mr. Reschenthaler) introduced the following 
   bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
 Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish 
    a grant program to make grants to eligible entities to develop 
    instructional content on artificial intelligence, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. GRANT PROGRAM FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INSTRUCTIONAL 
              CONTENT.

    (a) In General.--Beginning not later than January 1, 2022, the 
Director shall award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities 
to research the development of instructional content for teachers of a 
public elementary school or secondary school in accordance with 
subsection (e).
    (b) Applications.--
            (1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        subsection (a), an eligible entity shall submit to the Director 
        an application at such time, in such manner, and containing 
        such information as the Secretary may require, which shall 
        include--
                    (A) an explanation detailing how the proposed 
                research and development of instructional content by 
                such eligible entity would complement and enrich a 
                curriculum approved by a State educational agency for 
                implementation in a public elementary school or 
                secondary school; and
                    (B) a plan to--
                            (i) develop or adapt instructional content 
                        in accordance with subsection (e);
                            (ii) pilot such instructional content in a 
                        public elementary school or secondary school; 
                        or
                            (iii) assess the comprehension of students 
                        after the instruction of such pilot 
                        instructional content to determine the efficacy 
                        of such instructional content.
            (2) Conditions for receiving a grant.--As a condition of 
        receiving a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall 
        agree to--
                    (A) report to the Director, at such time and in 
                such manner as the Director may require, on--
                            (i) the activities carried out and 
                        materials developed using funds from such 
                        grant; and
                            (ii) input received from any teacher of an 
                        elementary school or secondary school that has 
                        successfully used the instructional content 
                        within the curriculum of such school;
                    (B) ensure that all instructional content created 
                as a result of such grant are freely available to the 
                public; and
                    (C) comply with the requirements of section 3474.20 
                of title 2, Federal Code of Regulations.
    (c) Review Board.--
            (1) Establishment.--The Director shall establish, and 
        appoint individuals to, a review board to select the grant 
        recipients in accordance with--
                    (A) the standard metrics in the most recent version 
                of the National Science Foundation Proposal and Award 
                Policies Guide; and
                    (B) the metrics outlined in subsection (d).
            (2) Composition.--The review board shall be equally 
        comprised of the following:
                    (A) Faculty members at institutions of higher 
                education with expertise in artificial intelligence.
                    (B) Faculty members at institutions of higher 
                education with expertise in education.
                    (C) Teachers at institutions of higher education.
                    (D) Teachers at elementary schools or secondary 
                schools, including elementary schools or secondary 
                schools receiving funds under part A of title I of the 
                Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 6311 et seq.).
                    (E) Professionals who, as determined by the 
                Director, spend the majority of their workday 
                interacting with artificial intelligence tools in the 
                workplace.
    (d) Additional Selection Metrics.--The Director shall develop 
metrics, for the review board to measure the likely success of an 
application, that assess--
            (1) the ability for the instructional content derived from 
        the research grants to be widely distributed, and easily 
        accessible, to public elementary schools and secondary schools;
            (2) the ability for the instructional content derived from 
        the research grants to reach a diverse student body; and
            (3) the ability for the instructional content derived from 
        the research grants to address the unique needs of a school 
        receiving Federal funds under Title 1 of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).
    (e) Instructional Content.--
            (1) In general.--An eligible entity conducting research 
        under subsection (a) shall devise a comprehensive and 
        structured series of exercises--
                    (A) appropriate to each grade level; and
                    (B) designed to--
                            (i) convey the principles behind, mechanics 
                        of, and societal implications or ethics of the 
                        use of artificial intelligence; and
                            (ii) provide teaching instructions for 
                        teachers at elementary schools or secondary 
                        schools on such mechanisms when needed.
            (2) Teaching instructions.--In providing teaching 
        instructions for teachers at elementary schools or secondary 
        schools under paragraph (1), an eligible entity may include the 
        following:
                    (A) Prescribed worksheets.
                    (B) Textbooks or other reading materials.
                    (C) Educational games.
                    (D) Digital instructional resources, including web-
                based applications, mobile applications, or application 
                programming interfaces.
                    (E) Virtual professional development programs for 
                teachers at elementary schools or secondary schools, 
                including webinars, online conferences, or massive open 
                online courses.
                    (F) Tools to improve the accessibility of 
                instructional content to students with learning 
                disabilities.
                    (G) Tools to improve the accessibility of 
                instructional content to students learning English as a 
                second language.
                    (H) Any other materials or activities that the 
                Director determines to be necessary to accomplish the 
                general goal outlined in paragraph (1)(B)(i).
            (3) Topics.--In conveying the mechanisms behind artificial 
        intelligence and the societal implications of the use of 
        artificial intelligence, an eligible entity may address the 
        following topics:
                    (A) How artificial intelligence systems work, 
                including--
                            (i) how artificial intelligence systems 
                        perceive and interact with their surrounding 
                        environments;
                            (ii) how artificial intelligence systems 
                        derive patterns and relationships from data; 
                        and
                            (iii) how artificial intelligence systems 
                        adapt based on the acquisition of new 
                        information.
                    (B) The societal implications of the broad 
                application of artificial intelligence systems, 
                including--
                            (i) investigating when and how bias may be 
                        intentionally or unintentionally created when 
                        using artificial intelligence;
                            (ii) investigating the tradeoffs between 
                        privacy and security as it pertains to the use 
                        of artificial intelligence applications; and
                            (iii) investigating the likely future 
                        impacts of artificial intelligence on society.
                    (C) Any other topics determined necessary by the 
                Director.
    (f) Evaluation.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 4 years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, the 
        Director shall evaluate the grant program under this section.
            (2) Content.--In evaluating the grant program under 
        subsection (a), the Director shall include--
                    (A) a common set of benchmarks and assessment tools 
                to identify best practices and materials developed and 
                demonstrated by the grant recipients; and
                    (B) recommendations for future expansion of such 
                program.
            (3) Publication.--Not later than 30 days after the 
        completion of the evaluation under paragraph (1), the results 
        of such evaluation shall be made available on a publicly 
        accessible website of the National Science Foundation.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial 
        intelligence'' means a machine-based system that--
                    (A) can, for a given set of human-defined 
                objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or 
                decisions that influence real or virtual environments; 
                and
                    (B) uses machine and human-based inputs to--
                            (i) perceive real and virtual environments;
                            (ii) abstract such perceptions into models 
                        through analysis in an automated manner; and
                            (iii) use model inference to formulate 
                        options for information or action.
            (2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Science Foundation.
            (3) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
                    (A) a State research agency;
                    (B) a Federal research agency;
                    (C) an institution of higher education;
                    (D) a junior or community college;
                    (E) a nonprofit organization with a history of 
                publishing peer-reviewed research in the fields of 
                education, computer science, or related fields; or
                    (F) any combination of subparagraphs (A) through 
                (E).
            (4) Elementary school; secondary school.--The terms 
        ``elementary school'' and ``secondary school'' have the 
        meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 
        and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
            (5) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001).
            (6) Instructional content.--The term ``instructional 
        content'' means lesson plans, educational tools, and 
        educational resources designed to assist in the teaching of a 
        concept or series of concepts in a structured manner to 
        students in elementary schools or secondary schools.
            (7) Junior or community college.--The term ``junior or 
        community college'' has the meaning given that term in section 
        312(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)).
            (8) State educational agency.--The term ``State educational 
        agency'' means the State board of education or other agency or 
        officer primarily responsible for the State supervision of 
        public elementary schools and secondary schools, or, if there 
        is no such officer or agency, an officer or agency designated 
        by the Governor or by State law.

SEC. 2. ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION PROGRAM.

    Section 10(i)(5) of the National Science Foundation Authorization 
Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n-1(i)(5)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(5) the term `mathematics and science teacher' means--
                    ``(A) a science, technology, engineering, 
                mathematics, or computer science, including 
                cybersecurity, teacher at the elementary school or 
                secondary school level; or
                    ``(B) a teacher at an elementary school or 
                secondary school who instructs from a curriculum that 
                incorporates, to a substantial degree, quantitative 
                data analysis.''.
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