Embodied AI and the Educational Turn – From Cognition to Situated Presence

This chapter explores the transformative potential of embodied artificial intelligence (Embodied AI) in education, focusing on fragile learning ecologies such as rural schools and homebound instruction. Grounded in the theoretical framework of embodied cognition, the work critically reframes educational technology by emphasizing the bodily, relational, and emotional dimensions of learning. Drawing on international literature and Italian case studies—particularly those involving small schools and domiciliary education—it articulates three key axes of analysis: teachers’ professional reflection in isolated contexts, embodied educational leadership, and student support in conditions of isolation. Rather than positioning Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) as replacements for human actors, the chapter presents them as relational infrastructures capable of sustaining presence and promoting situated learning. It argues for a participatory and co-designed approach to educational AI—one that is sensitive to the somatic, cultural, and territorial specificities of each educational context—and envisions AI not as a tool of automation, but as a technology of attention, care, and educational justice.