Building Blocks of STEM Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 3397, the Building Blocks of STEM Act, which also includes my Code Like a Girl Act.

I first want to thank my Republican colleague, Steve Knight, for working with me and co-leading this important legislation and our Science, Space, and Technology Committee chairman, Lamar Smith, for helping move this bill through committee. I am proud to see both of my STEM education proposals come to the floor with wide bipartisan support.

STEM and computer science are central to our country's innovation, economic growth, and employment. Across the country, we are continuing to see a huge demand for workers in the tech industry, including software developers, engineers, and computer programmers like myself.

I built my career in STEM--a field that has long been dominated by men--so I know all too well that the demand for talent in STEM is real.

In my home State of Nevada, tech companies like Tesla, Switch, and Google are leading the way to create the jobs of the future. Even across all industries, about 15 percent of jobs in Nevada require a high level of knowledge in at least one STEM field.

Despite these increasing opportunities in STEM careers, not enough Americans possess the education and skills necessary to succeed. This disparity between computing and scientific talent and employer demand really starts as far back as elementary school.

Studies have found that children who engage in scientific activities from an early age will develop positive attitudes toward science and are more likely to pursue STEM careers later on. In fact, interviews with current graduate students and scientists found that the majority of them reported that their interest in science began before middle school.

The bill before us today, the Building Blocks of STEM Act, will ensure that we are investing in our children as early as possible by directing the National Science Foundation to equitably distribute funding across age groups. Specifically, this bill would direct funding to include early childhood education in the Discovery Research PreK-12 program, which seeks to enhance the learning and teaching of STEM and address the immediate challenges facing pre-K through 12 STEM education.

Currently, the Discovery Research PreK-12 program focuses the majority of its research on students in middle school or older. Since having access to hands-on STEM experiences as early as possible is important for continued interest, my bill will ensure that NSF focuses on engaging our Nation's children in STEM education even younger, specifically, those under the age of 11.

H.R. 3397 also includes the text of another STEM bill of mine, the Code Like a Girl Act, which I introduced with the support of my Republican colead, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. It is also cosponsored by Subcommittee on Research and Technology Chairwoman Barbara Comstock and Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson; and I would like to thank them both for their support.

This legislation is for our girls, girls like Isabel, an eighth grader from my district who loves STEM. She is on her high school robotics team. Last year, for a school project, she proposed a new monitoring system to accurately assess the fire issues at Yellowstone National Park.

This past summer, I received a letter from Isabel, and in her letter to me, she offered an idea on how to increase and improve solar energy in Nevada. I wrote back to Isabel and later had the opportunity to meet her and her family in person. I thanked her for her advocacy and let her know that we will only move forward in this country by inspiring young minds to create, innovate, and imagine the future. Isabel is one of the young girls we are fighting for today.

Young girls should know that they are more capable of succeeding in STEM and that they can grow up to be the next Grace Hopper or Katherine Johnson. This bill will help bridge that divide and close the gender gap that, for too long, has deprived young women from achieving their full potential. These young, talented minds could be working on our Nation's most challenging problems by inventing the next breakthrough technology, founding future startup companies, improving access to healthcare with computing, and even keeping our Nation safe from cyber attacks. The Code Like a Girl Act would create two NSF programs to encourage young girls to pursue computer science.

As we all know, the gender gap in the STEM workforce is widening. Women only hold about 26 percent of STEM jobs, even though they make up more than half of the U.S. workforce. This gender disparity extends down through all levels of education. In 2015, approximately 23 percent of AP computer science exam takers were girls.

And gender stereotypes begin at a very early age. Studies have shown that, at around 6 years old, girls develop the belief that brilliance is a male characteristic, and this negative stereotype is shown to have an immediate effect as girls start to lose their interest in activities they perceive as requiring brilliance.

Another study found that young children, both boys and girls, already believe that boys are better than girls at

robotics and programming. It is unclear where precisely this stereotype originates from, but implicit biases can have a negative impact on a girl's academic achievement in math and science and on their future decisions to enroll in advanced courses in these subjects.

The Code Like a Girl Act addresses this issue by creating NSF grants to increase understanding of the factors that contribute to the participation of young girls 10 and younger in STEM and computer science activities. This bill also creates a grant program to develop and evaluate interventions in pre-K and elementary school classrooms with the goal of increasing participation of young girls in computer science.

Some of these activities may include teacher training and professional development, classroom programs on gender-inclusive teaching practices, and providing mentors for girls to support their computer science aspirations. We know that young girls are interested in science, math, and computing, but we need to make sure that, as they grow older, they stay involved and engaged.

We also know that knowledge of computer science and use of technology is becoming increasingly essential for all individuals, not just those planning to work in the technology sector. STEM education cultivates students' curiosity, their creativity. It teaches them to work as a team and fosters critical thinking skills that are fundamental for success in any field.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will help invest in our students. It will help them rise to meet the challenges of a changing economy that increasingly relies on highly skilled labor and technology. I am proud to stand for our students before this Chamber because, together, we are making smart investments that will help our children succeed, smart investments so that we can help our communities build more effective workforces and a stronger, competitive economy.

For these reasons, I am proud that my Building Blocks of STEM Act, including the text of my Code Like a Girl Act, is being considered today. With the passage of these bills, we are one step closer to bridging the current gaps in STEM education and workforce training.

Building the blocks for careers in STEM will prepare Nevadans and all Americans for better jobs and help us meet the demands of our 21st century economy. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from California, a member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, for yielding me time on this particular piece of legislation.

I do support H.R. 3397, the Building Blocks of STEM Act, introduced by Representative Jacky Rosen and Representative Steve Knight, the Energy Subcommittee vice chairman.

The bill will help boost our ability to get young people interested in STEM subjects. America lags behind many other nations when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. American students are ranked 19th in science and 31st in math out of 35 industrialized nations, the bottom half in both. This is not the educational record of a country that wants to compete globally.

We must encourage our Nation's youth to study science and engineering so they will want to pursue these careers.

More graduates with STEM degrees means more advanced technologies and a more robust economy. A well-educated and trained STEM workforce promotes our future economic prosperity.

These graduates have the potential to develop technologies that could save thousands of lives, jump-start a new industry, or even discover new worlds.

H.R. 3397 directs the National Science Foundation to more equitably allocate funding for research in studies that focus on early childhood. Investing in young students seeks to lay the groundwork to interest them in STEM in their formative years.

The bill also directs the National Science Foundation to develop scalable models to increase young girls' participation in computer science. Despite representing nearly half of the college-educated and total U.S. workforce, women account for less than 25 percent of America's STEM workforce.

In the last Congress, my bill, the STEM Education Act of 2015, was signed into law. That bipartisan legislation expanded the Federal definition of STEM to include computer science. H.R. 3397 continues the bipartisan commitment of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee to promote computer science as a part of STEM by adding computer science to the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.

I thank Representative Jacky Rosen and Representative Steve Knight for working together on this bill. I also thank the chairwoman of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, Mrs. Comstock, for her work to improve the underlying legislation by offering the Supporting Girls in STEM Education and Computer Science amendment.

Including today's five research bills, 20 of the 22 bills the Science, Space, and Technology Committee has brought to the House floor this Congress have been bipartisan pieces of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these five bipartisan bills.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3397) to direct the National Science Foundation to support STEM education research focused on early childhood, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3397, as amended, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on an important policy to improve our Nation's STEM education.

H.R. 3397 is a bipartisan bill that I am proud to sponsor with Ms. Rosen, and it fits in with a larger set of education and workforce improvement legislation the Science, Space, and Technology Committee has recently reported to address critical challenges to our STEM workforce.

Investing in our children and their futures is always an opportunity for good. Strategically expanding the reach of our STEM education programs to children of all ages will improve more individuals with aptitude are engaged and stay on their educational path.

Research shows that kids as young as 1, 2, or 3 are capable of absorbing STEM concepts. And any parent can tell you that shortly after kids learn to talk, the questions can be endless. Children have a natural curiosity that can be fostered into an interest in science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science.

This bill directs NSF to more equitably allocate funding for research in studies that focus on early childhood. Investing in children early ensures we are laying the groundwork to develop young innovators in

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), who is the chairman of the

Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, investing and encouraging early education in STEM are needs that we know are here now and even more in the future. I want to thank Ms. Rosen for her leadership in this role. It is absolutely something that is bipartisan. It is something that Congress is behind.

I can tell you, just on a personal note, Lancaster High School came out with their robotics team more than a decade ago, 100 percent boys. Just a short period after that, about 4 or 5 years, they were 50 percent girls, 50 percent boys, and they were winning awards all over the country. That was because we had great teachers there who pushed and made sure that girls knew that they could be on the robotics team and pulled them in. That is exactly what we are talking about: investing and encouraging.

I urge passage of this good bill. This is bipartisan.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3397, the Building Blocks of STEM Act. I want to thank Ms. Rosen for her leadership on this issue.

Drawing upon her experience as a girl who codes, Ms. Rosen has been a strong champion for creating more opportunities for talented girls and women interested in computer science. I commend Ms. Rosen for her efforts on this critically important issue.

The demand for computer science expertise is on the rise in all sectors of the economy. To ensure that we have the capacity to meet that demand, we must do more to leverage all of our human capital to tackle the technological challenges of the future.

Research shows us that girls as young as 6 years old are adopting gender-based stereotypes that discourage them from engaging in STEM activities, including computer science.

H.R. 3397 directs NSF to support research into factors that contribute to the early adoption of these stereotypes. The bill also directs NSF to support the design, development, and implementation of scalable models for intervention to prevent or reverse the effects of these negative and false stereotypes.

I strongly support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Rosen).

Mr. Speaker, I support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.