Teaching beyond the Bounds: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Psychology and Sociology

We describe the development and evolution of an interdisciplinary introductory course in psychology and sociology. Such a course benefits students by encouraging a wider view of the social sciences and interdisciplinary critical thinking. The challenges of a combined course include reduced content for each discipline, the selection of appropriate texts, and the negotiation of course processes between two professors. Course evaluations indicated that students appreciated thinking beyond the bounds of 1 discipline. Additionally, statistical analyses suggested that our students received similar grades in upper level psychology courses as a cohort of psychology majors who completed the traditional introduction to psychology course.