I've just written the following sentence for my academic essay:
Some educators believe that it is more advantageous for students to learn theories rather than facts, since theories help explain both past and future events.
Because I don't want to sound repetitive, I've decided to change the word theories for something that refers back to it, as shown bellow:
Some educators believe that it is more advantageous for students to learn theories rather than facts, since the first ones help explain both past and future events.
Is the second sentence correct? Is there a more formal way to convey the same idea?
I did search for explanation on the internet, but could not find any.
Thanks in advance.