Qualitative Study of the Principles of Interdisciplinary Approach in Curriculum by Looking at the Field of Agricultural Extension and Education

Excessive proficiency and the loss of relevance and thematic correlations of a discipline with other disciplines and the peripheral world have removed university disciplines from their main function. In this regard, the country's comprehensive scientific map emphasizes the development of interdisciplinary programs as a major strategy. Interdisciplinary approach, interconnecting different perspectives of different disciplines to integrate theories, concepts, tools, techniques, and achieving cognitive development to survey a complex subject or problem. The purpose of this paper was to study the necessities, achievements, atributies and the principles of using an interdisciplinary approach in curriculum from the perspective of faculty members and interdisciplinary curriculum specialists and the field of agricultural extension and education. Semi-structured interview was conducted using a snowball sampling method with 29 experts in person, face to face, telephone and Correspondence interview to reach the data saturation stage. The data was processed and analyzed by the researcher in a questionnaire, using qualitative and quantitative content analysis method during the open coding process and in two stages of initial and secondary coding. Identification codes and the main categories and concepts were extracted. The findings showed that the most prominent feature of the interdisciplinary approach is the interaction, the communication and the purposeful integration of the disciplines. The most important interdisciplinary necessity was problem-oriented, and the achievements of this approach are multi-dimensional human education with a comprehensive and systemic thinking. In view of the results, it is suggested that both a content-based and skill-oriented curriculum approach be considered as a general principle in the revision of agricultural extension and education curriculum.