National and international policy efforts increasingly promote AI literacy in K--12 education, yet access to AI tools alone is insufficient to ensure equitable and responsible participation, particularly in under-resourced contexts. Without designs that integrate ethical reasoning, human support, and opportunities for judgment, AI initiatives risk reinforcing inequities and preparing students to use powerful technologies without critically evaluating their societal consequences. To address this gap, we developed a human-centered, college credit--bearing course on Responsible and Ethical AI for students attending Title I and Title I--eligible high schools, implemented in partnership with the National Education Opportunity Network (NEON). The bichronous course integrates foundational AI concepts with ethical and socio-technical reasoning through asynchronous instruction, near-peer mentorship, and synchronous, discussion-based instruction. In its inaugural year, nearly 180 students from 12 U.S. schools completed the course, with a 97.8% completion rate. Using end-of-course survey data from students, co-teachers, and teaching fellows, this study examines academic agency, confidence with college-level expectations, critical engagement with responsible AI, and perceived post-secondary trajectory expansion. Results indicate that students were challenged to apply learning and reason about ethical tradeoffs, while educators reported high engagement, rigor, and meaningfulness relative to typical high school coursework. Overall, findings highlight the importance of human connections in advancing equitable Artificial Intelligence in Education and support ethical judgment as a core learning outcome alongside AI literacy.

翻译：国家和国际层面的政策举措日益推动K-12教育中的人工智能素养培养，然而仅凭获取人工智能工具本身并不足以确保公平且负责任的参与，尤其是在资源匮乏的环境中。若缺乏整合伦理推理、人类支持及判断机会的设计，人工智能相关计划可能加剧不平等，使学生仅学会使用强大技术，却无法批判性评估其社会后果。为填补这一空白，我们针对就读于第一类学校（Title I）及符合第一类学校资格的高中生，开发了一门以人为中心、可获得大学学分的《负责任与合乎伦理的人工智能》课程，并与国家教育机会网络（NEON）合作实施。该双模式课程通过异步教学、近同伴指导及同步讨论式教学，将基础人工智能概念与伦理及社会技术推理相结合。首年共有来自美国12所学校的近180名学生完成了该课程，完成率达97.8%。基于学生、联合教师及教学研究员在课程结束时填写的调查数据，本研究考察了学术能动性、对大学水平要求的信心、对负责任人工智能的批判性参与，以及高等教育阶段路径拓展的感知。结果表明，学生被要求应用所学知识并对伦理权衡进行推理，而教育工作者则报告称，与典型高中课程相比，该课程具有更高的参与度、严谨性和意义。总体而言，研究结果强调了人际关系在推进教育领域公平人工智能中的重要性，并支持将伦理判断与人工智能素养并列为核心学习成果。