This article addresses the process of designing and validating a questionnaire on the New Water Culture, which aims to collect information on various issues related to water, such as its management, savings, and consumption. The questionnaire was subjected to a double validation process: an evaluation by a panel of experts, including members of the New Water Culture Foundation, and a pilot study, which allowed us to estimate the validation of the content as well as the corresponding internal consistency of the questionnaire. The construction and validation process resulted in a questionnaire consisting of 27 items with a total of 71 variables distributed in four sections: the first is related to scarcity, quantity, and distribution of water; the second collects questions about the different dimensions of water; the third analyses the different ways of carrying out water management; and the fourth and last section is related to personal actions associated with water. The reliability study showed a Cronbach alpha of 0.913, which demonstrates the development of a robust and reliable instrument allowing the identification of the most problematic issues associated with the New Water Culture.

La Nueva Cultura del Agua (NCA) reivindica una gestión integrada y sostenible de los recursos hídricos, tal y como se defiende desde la Directiva Marco del Agua del año 2000. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados preliminares de una indagación realizada en el ámbito de la formación del profesorado acerca de la NCA. Se administró un cuestionario ad hoc a una muestra de 455 futuros docentes melillenses de Primaria y de Secundaria. En los resultados se destacan las mayores dificultades que tienen en sus concepciones sobre el agua. Así, los estudiantes conciben que la naturaleza presenta problemas físicos de escasez de agua, y que es necesario aumentar su disponibilidad mediante estructuras hidráulicas o mediante la extracción de agua subterránea. Defendemos que estas dificultades deben ser consideradas en las aulas universitarias para despertar el interés hacia una NCA.

Education is the main tool society has for transforming cultural habits and making them more sustainable. This work entails a comparative study in the sphere of initial teacher training regarding the knowledge of future educators on the New Water Culture (NWC). An ad-hoc questionnaire was administered to a sample of 1387 future primary and secondary school teachers studying in Granada (N = 942) and Melilla (N = 455), both Spanish cities with diverse education and water conditions. The results indicate that the trainee teachers in Granada display knowledge more in line with the NWC. However, there are contents where the results are inverted due to the media impact regarding water in Melilla. Furthermore, it is confirmed that both groups lack correct training that allows them to transfer appropriate knowledge effectively and thus create new behaviours in future generations in a visible and permanent way.

The present study aims to review the state of the art regarding the use of video games (VGs) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and to analyse their implications for students’ competency development in STEM areas. A systematic review was conducted following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines, focusing on studies indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases between 2015 and 2024. The results indicate that most of the analysed VGs are specifically designed for educational purposes, are geared towards the teaching and learning of a STEM discipline and cater to all levels of cognitive complexity. Regarding the impact of VGs on competency development, their technical features appear to exert a greater influence than their pedagogical aspects. Finally, this study highlights the transformative potential of VGs in STEM education and underscores the need for further research to expand their applicability across different educational stages, examine the risks associated with their use, and ensure their sustainability and accessibility in diverse educational contexts.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, water resource management policies have been based on so-called supply strategies, designed to meet the growing demand for water. The New Water Culture proposes an alternative, sustainable approach to water and water resource management. This article examines the trends observed in the water management-related decisions of ten political leaders in the Autonomous City of Melilla, as a basis for bringing water-related learning and debate into the classroom. The information for the study was gathered through a series of interviews. The results show that the interviewees have extensive knowledge about water, water-related issues and water management. The findings suggest that the responses collected in this study may be a useful way of introducing this issue into the classroom in the form of a socio-scientific conflict aimed at encouraging critical thinking and scientific literacy.

This article explores how water conditions in geographical contexts could influence the construction of teachers’ professional identities and, consequently, their knowledge and beliefs about water sustainability. Water sustainability is defined as the responsible management of water from a perspective that integrates environmental, social and economic sustainability principles. This quantitative study employed an ad hoc questionnaire, inspired by the New Water Culture principles as a conceptual sustainability framework. The instrument, designed with Google Forms, was administered to 221 secondary school teachers from two cities with contrasting water and cultural conditions: Bogotá (Colombia) and Melilla (Spain). Results indicate that teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in both cities are not aligned with water sustainability principles, with no significant differences between the two groups due to their different water conditions. However, there are partial differences related to the respective personal experiences: in Bogotá, teachers show greater concern for water quality, whereas in Melilla the focus is more on the quantity available. These findings underline the importance of promoting teachers’ professional development in water sustainability aligned with professional identities, as a key strategy for nurturing aware and engaged citizens. This approach is fundamental to tackle water stress challenges and foster a paradigm shift towards more responsible, sustainable lifestyles globally.