Concepts first or practices first

Consider two approaches to science education: 1) Teach that there are concepts that you need to know to be a scientist; given those requisite concepts, these are the practices we use to get to that knowledge or to refine those concepts. 2) Teach that there are practices of science you need to know to be a scientist; given those practices, these are some of the concepts we've found using such practices.

The difference may be subtle, and we may already use a mix of these two approaches. But are we biased towards the first approach over the second? If so, is that bias expressed in the resistance to the "nature of science" recommendations in standards-guidance documents, such as Benchmarks for Science Literacy?<bibref>AAAS:1993Benchmarks-for-AA</bibref>

References

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