The Cunha Intermediate School eighth-grader studied at Moss Beach art school Fly on the Wall for two years. Fascinated by aerodynamics, when he spotted balsa wood left over from art projects, he knew what to do.
“I thought, ‘hey, I can make planes of balsa,’ but none of them ever worked,” he said. “So I asked myself, why did they fail?”
  
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“I think to myself, this is a good chance to figure that out,” he said.
Putz joined 200 Cunha eighth-graders who, caught up by a science puzzler, turned to research, experimentation and family encouragement. They tapped technology like Excel to chronicle results in sophisticated graphs and prose, and took them to the fair.
On Jan. 14, parents, teachers and Coastsiders flocked to the Cunha gym to see the projects in six categories: plant science, life science, environmental science and geology, behavioral science, physical science, and chemistry.
The projects reflected creativity, a swath of topics and approaches, and awareness of the world as reflected by a “green” component.
Earlier that day, the projects were perused and students interviewed by local judges who were scientifically educated or science professionals. First-, second- and third-place winners, a grand-prize winner, a grand prize runner-up and the special Jerry Trenter and Gil Ellis awards named for previous Cunha teachers were chosen.
“My feeling is that the kids understand what they’re doing around measuring and sophisticated graphs and charts,” said judge and school board member Jolanda Schreurs. “It’s the true scientific method, how they came up with conclusions that can be evaluated by hard data.”
The students defined the problem, posed a hypothesis, listed dependent and independent variables and controls, recorded procedures and conclusions, and documented the data.
“I think to myself, is it the wings? Is there a problem with the wings?” Putz said. After researching online and interviewing Coastside pilots John Cutter and Colin Smith, he made models of plane wings — one after a 747, another after a vacation glider and a third of his own design. He attached them to small scales and tested them in a wind tunnel.
Student projects were varied: How does playing video games affect blood pressure? How does light affect food spoilage? Does the taste of organic foods vary between men and women? Do toy guns affect aggression? Does the size of an egg affect the strength of its shell? Which has healthier drinking water, Montara or Half Moon Bay?
“I think the quality is strong. There is a lot of variety and creativity,” said judge Maureen Beresini.
“The questions are interesting, and (focused) on important topics like energy or fuel,” said judge Shawnya Michaels.
Erin Beebe’s “A Stretch in Time” measured the role of stretching in keeping the body flexible. Ellenor Harkin borrowed blood pressure cuffs from her nurse mother to measure systolic and diastolic levels in 13- to 15-year-old girls to see how sleep affected blood pressure in “Sweet Dreams.”
Student wit also infused the starkly scientific. Ryan Segervall developed “The Amazing Hovercraft” to test how different surfaces like concrete or grass affect how much weight the Hovercraft could lift. Paula Pastuskovas whimsically asked “Got Juice?” in her test of enzyme activity and juice levels in apples.
Cole Watts put together math questions and recordings of hip-hop and classical music for “Music On My Mind,” and spent several days testing about 60 Cunha sixth-graders to analyze effects of the music on mental acuity. His conclusion: “I thought (the project) would be kind of boring, but it was pretty fun, actually,” he said. “It’s OK to listen to music when you’re doing assignments.”
Putz found that the curvature of airplane wings affects drag — air resistance under the wing — and, in turn, lift. His project “In Search of Lift: Airfoil Design” brought him the runner-up award.
“I felt very proud of myself,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘I didn’t know that. Finally, I can make a model plane that worked.’”
Annie Zell took the grand prize for “Dilation Sensation,” in which she measured the pupils of a human and a dog, at rest and after exercise, to “see if the pupil dilation ratio increased as exercise increased.”
She said she thought the judges appreciated the humor in her approach. “I got experience with both animals.”
She and Putz both received trophies, plus gift certificates from Bay Book Company.
These projects could serve the students in life, said Pastuskovas.
“In science — in anything, really — before you come to conclusions, you have to test,” she said. “You can apply science to life. Before you come to a conclusion about somebody, you have to test it first. That can officially change how you look at life.”
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