Knoxville Schools students are participating in computer programming activities this week.

To kick off the week, Sarah Derry, South Central Iowa Regional Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Manager, awarded a $3,500 grant to the district for their participation. Knoxville was the only school to receive the grant in the South Central Region.

Derry tells KNIA/KRLS News she was impressed with the school’s plan for “Hour of Code” and the funds. Knoxville Teachers Tyler Pearson and Lindsey Carlson developed the plan as part of their role integrating technology into Knoxville schools. “Hour of Code” is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in more than 180 countries. The students are taking one-hour tutorials that encourage dynamic problem solving and strategizing.

Derry says coding is now an important part of the modern world and letting students develop computer programming skills early gives them the possibility of a lucrative and fulfilling career path. More than 50% of today’s jobs require some degree of technology skills and that is likely to increase to 77% in the next decade.

Derry is based out of Drake University in Des Moines, as part of the Governor’s Advisory Council on STEM.

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