The Design in Mind (DiM) framework encourages educators to think deeply about their practices and existing ecosystems and to get in touch with their hopes, dreams, values, ideas, and deeper thinking. The DiM pushes EDesigners (educator-designers) to better describe and defend their decisions by applying continuous collaboration and democratic decision making to achieve sustainable change. Through careful observation and relationship-based interactions, we can begin to understand how our roles within our larger educational ecosystem require an acute awareness of the whole--not just the parts. The DiM framework helps to frame dilemmas and problems educators are faced with as questions that then drive them to examine ill-defined or unknown situations. It also provides scaffolds and generates ideas for ideas to develop and test through prototyping, sketching, experimenting, and ideating; in collaboration with others or with ourselves. Miriam Beloglovsky is an award-winning author (Teachers' Choice Awards, Brain Child Awards, INDIES Finalist) and one of Redleaf Press's bestselling authors. Michelle Grant-Groves is the executive director of the I3 Institute: Inquiry, Intention, and Innovation, a design and education consulting firm dedicated to bridging early care and education systems, Birth-3rd Grade, and beyond. She is also the executive director for the Center of Gravity, a STEM-based early childhood education lab school for the Institute.

Michelle's life work is anchored in advancing racial equity and inclusion and sees inquiry as a core lever for community transformation. She has 20+ years of experience in the field of education, having served as a teacher, school-site and district administrator, worthy-wage advocate, author, designer, college instructor, facilitator, and presenter. Michelle and Miriam have now published several articles together, and Design in Mind is their first full book collaboration. This is the first in a series of resources we expect from these authors around Design in Mind Audience: Early childhood educators, coaches, administrators, educational coordinators, K-3 educators, and there is potential for course adoption. Age focus: 0-8 years.