Thousands of Iowa students at more than 500 schools and organizations will try computer coding this week through “Code Iowa” events organized at schools statewide. The initiative is part of an international effort to introduce students to at least one hour of computer coding. Nationally, there are only about 43,000 computer science graduates available to fill more than 500,000 computing jobs in the United States. Jeff Weld, executive director of the STEM Council said, “Code Iowa takes them behind the screen to produce rather than to merely consume technology, launching lifelong interest, we hope, in the great IT careers that await across our state.”