Abstract
There has been sustained research interest in the role of early career researchers in advancing the field and the challenges that they face. However, efforts to document lived experiences of researchers working in a specific research area within science education have been scarce. This paper considers the meaning of innovation in the context of nature of science (NOS) research, drawing from a collective reflection of five early career academics from different backgrounds. After discussing the sources of our motivation to innovate in NOS research, we identify four distinct pathways of innovation. These pathways include (1) delving into specific aspects of NOS in greater depth, (2) exploring the interface of NOS and other established research areas, and (3) using NOS to address pressing social issues, and (4) expanding the methodological repertoire of NOS research. We illustrate these four modes of research innovation using examples from our own work. Barriers to early-career innovation such as the absence of NOS in curricula and initial teacher education, the lack of time to engage with practitioners to develop and implement instructional resources, and the underrepresentation of diverse education systems in NOS research literature are discussed.