Interdisciplinary Courses: Concepts, Approaches, Genealogy, and Typology

Complexity of interdisciplinary concept, which is a result of complex nature of sciences and various theories, calls for more scrutiny on quality, background as well as concepts and approaches related to this issue. Therefore, a better understanding of interdisciplinary courses requires exploration of the concept of interdisciplinary studies which constitute the first part of this paper. In fact, many theorists maintain that shortcomings of interdisciplinary studies as well as complexity of issues facing human society and paradigm changes in human society which pave the way for transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based society, are major issues related to interdisciplinary courses which should be explored. The second part of this paper stresses on conceptualizations regarding interdisciplinary courses which have been written on the basis of different approaches including, inter alia, alternating, normative, and epistemological approaches which lead to different conceptualizations on interdisciplinary courses. Despite those differences in conceptualization on interdisciplinary courses, they have a common point: the necessity of attending to interdisciplinary studies in order to solve complex human problems. Genealogy and Background studies, which can play a great role in better understanding of interdisciplinary courses and differentiate them from pre-disciplinary studies, focus on factors affecting developments in this scientific area which includes typology of interdisciplinary courses.