In 1998, Sturrock and Else introduced the Play Cycle which has been integrated into both playwork theory and practice. An online survey with 157 responses found that playworkers’ understanding Play Cycle varied to how they were first introduced to the theory. In addition, understandings of the six elements of the Play Cycle were significantly different from the original author’s definitions. To provide a more consistent use of the Play Cycle in both future research and practice, this article offers new definitions for each element of the Play Cycle based on the results from this study. This has implications for any childhood setting where the Play Cycle is used, including playgroups, nurseries and out of school provision catering for primary-aged children.

中文翻译：

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重新定义游戏周期：对游戏工作者对游戏理论的理解的实证研究

1998年，Sturrock和Else引入了“游戏周期”，该方法已被整合到游戏理论和实践中。在线调查中有157个答复，发现游戏工作者对“游戏周期”的理解与他们最初被引入理论的方式有所不同。此外，对“游戏周期”的六个要素的理解与原始作者的定义有很大不同。为了在以后的研究和实践中更一致地使用“游戏周期”，本文根据研究结果为“游戏周期”的每个元素提供了新的定义。这对使用“游戏周期”的任何儿童时期环境都有影响，包括游戏小组，托儿所和为小学年龄儿童提供的校外娱乐设施。