Taking the Long View: What Nobel Laureates Remind Us About Education

By Tom Sellevaag, Upper Grades Head

Sometimes I just need a break from it all: from the soundbites, the clickbait, the pervasive sense that things are moving fast, too fast for us to keep up. So in an attempt to find something that is both good news and important news, I’ve enjoyed reading about some of this year’s recipients of Nobel Prizes, particularly the ones in physiology, chemistry, and physics, which were awarded earlier this month. I’ve found it inspiring and comforting—even though, to be honest, much of it is completely baffling. The winners in physiology discovered a set of T-cells that help the body’s immune system avoid attacking its own healthy cells; that one makes sense to me. But I had less luck grasping the winning chemistry work dealing with “a new kind of molecular structure that combined metals and organic materials” to create empty spaces through which “gases and other materials can flow.” The physics prize proved similarly abstruse: a series of experiments that proved the existence of two phenomena of quantum mechanics, quantum tunneling and the quantization of energy, at a scale large enough to be observed with the naked eye. 

For the layperson—I am surely one—reading about this work is a little like reading a mysterious language, shaking your head, and muttering, “What even is that?!” Suffice to say, the scientific concepts underlying these discoveries are well beyond the scope of my learning. But even if we can’t be bothered with understanding regulatory T-cells, molecular sponges, and the strange workings of subatomic particles, we’re missing some great stuff if we breeze over the stories of these Nobel laureates and their work, because they reveal some important truths not just about good science, but about good education.

First, the acquisition of deep learning takes time. I was surprised to realize that the award-winning experiments in chemistry and physics had actually begun decades ago. The findings unfolded over years, and in some cases after dead-ends and seemingly intractable puzzles had been solved. Relatedly, all three of these prizes were won by teams of researchers who built on their colleagues’ earlier findings to deepen their collective understanding and move their research forward. As Dorothy Phillips, president of the American Chemical Society noted, “It takes time for science to be recognized, and it takes multiple workers in the field with different approaches.” The collaborative spirit comes through loud and clear, as with chemistry co-winner Dr. Susumu Kitagawa, who said of  “I want to share my joy with the other two [award-winners],” including 88-year-old Dr. Richard Robson, who did the original research on which Kitagawa expanded. Or the physics co-winner Dr. Richard Clarke, who said of his two co-winners, who were his graduate and postgraduate students when the research was conducted 40 years ago, “I could not imagine accepting this prize without the two of them.”

Another important takeaway is that, while the concepts may seem inscrutable to the general public, the discoveries that rest on those concepts are far from isolated academic exercises. On the contrary, each of these breakthroughs have made or stand to make significant improvements to the average person’s quality of life. The discovery of regulatory T-cells will help inform efforts to treat autoimmune diseases; hundreds of clinical trials are currently underway. The new molecular structures have helped create methods of removing toxins from wastewater. The advances in quantum mechanics provided foundational understanding for current work in the field of quantum computing, which enables faster and more efficient computing. In each case, important conceptual understanding is employed in service of a meaningful, real-world application. Reading all of this, I am reminded of recent work from the education researcher Rebecca Winthrop, whose newsletter and most recent book, The Disengaged Teen, are interesting reads. Winthrop advocates for a timeless goal that, in her view (and mine), is even more important now in the age of AI: to minimize the gap between the acquisition of knowledge and the application of knowledge. At the same time, we shouldn’t devalue ideas that seem to be ahead of their time. American Physical Society CEO Johnathan Bagger said of the decades-old discovery in quantum mechanics, “This prize [the Nobel]...showed the importance of the investment in research for which we do not yet have an application, because we know that sooner or later, there will be an application.”

Time to develop deep understanding. Learning through collaborative inquiry. Meaningful application of knowledge. The characteristics of game-changing science sound a lot like the characteristics we aim to foster in our Upper Grades program. Admittedly, it’s a long way from Farren’s Stable to the front lines of international scholarship, but our mission is to equip students with the foundational experiences and tools that will serve them well regardless of where their journey takes them. At our annual High School Alumni Forum earlier this month, we had the privilege of hearing from 21 of our alumni who are in the early stages of that “future journey.” They spoke to our 8th Graders about a variety of topics related to high school, including the value of the preparation they received for study-skills, notetaking, inquiry learning, self-advocacy, and collaborative learning at Capitol Hill Day School. 

Of course, it’s always nice to hear kudos about our work. But there’s more to it than pride. Moments like the alumni forum are important opportunities to cultivate “seeds of hope” in our Upper Grades students—much like my joy in finding connections between our approach and the thinking of Nobel laureates. Realizing that you’re on the right track with the habits you’re practicing and the values you’re trying to live out helps you take the long view, build resilience, and stay grounded when life tries to knock you off-balance, as it surely will. The world may be uncertain and threatening, but I have hope that our fundamental values—resilience, collaboration, iteration, problem-solving, and a tireless search for deeper understanding—will prepare students for whatever the future holds.