2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has raised significant ethical concerns, particularly around fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE) [1], [2]. Although AI tools may offer many educational benefits, their widespread integration into everyday life often occurs without students being aware that they are interacting with algorithms which might infringe on privacy, reinforce biases, or make opaque decisions[3]. As AI is being more integrated into education systems, it is time to examine how all these AI- driven educational tools and technologies can be developed and used in a manner that aligns with ethical standards, ensuring fairness and accountability.  
In this study, we aim to understand how high school students’ knowledge and perceptions of artificial intelligence evolve after participating in an AI and ethics module within the XYZ program, a two-week hands-on program for rising juniors and seniors that provides STEM activities, faculty mentorship, and team-based projects. During the module, students engaged in interactive lessons and activities, utilizing web-based tools like Google Teachable Machine [4] and Moral Machine [5] to explore more about how biases work, and analyzed real-world scenarios through Ethical Dilemma Cards [6]. To evaluate the impact, we collected pre- and post-survey data and written group responses of ethical dilemma activities from 80 (67 consented) high school students, which will be analyzed using inductive thematic analysis and descriptive statistics to examine changes in students’ ethical understanding of AI. This study helps determine the effectiveness of hands-on learning techniques in supporting high school students’ understanding of AI, ethical awareness, and critical engagement with AI technologies.
The findings suggest that students’ understanding of AI and engagement with related activities improved after the workshop. Many students became more comfortable using new technologies and experimenting with ways to interact with AI. The workshop also appeared to increase students’ awareness of ethical considerations, including concerns about bias, misinformation, privacy, transparency, and the limitations of AI. Moreover, during ethical dilemma activities, some students were able to recognize potential biases in AI and considered that developers and organizations have a role in addressing these challenges. 
These findings support the need of including inquiry-based, hands-on learning into early AI education. The study supports the use of ethical dilemma activities to promote civic engagement, critical thinking, and an understanding awareness of fairness in technology design. It also shows that high school students are capable of meaningful, critical ethical reasoning. This work provides educators with a workable paradigm for preparing the next generation to navigate an AI-shaped future in an ethical manner.