Adler and Flihan array approaches to interdisciplinary curriculum along a continuum of theoretical models. These instructional models vary in the degree to which the integrated content areas are on the one hand, distinct, and on the other, blended. Each of the points on the continuum also reflects a different vision of knowledge. Teaching may be thematic at this stage, but students are expected to do the integrating. At the Shared Knowledge stage, instruction more actively relates the disciplines.
Teachers help students see overlapping concepts and emergent patterns between disciplines.
Knowledge is seen as integrated. Reconstructed Knowledge represents the other end of the continuum. Courses at this stage are often problem centered, seeking to have students synthesize knowledge from across disciplines. They are integrative, virtually eliminating disciplinary boundaries and constructing new knowledge. Those who advocate or adopt interdisciplinary courses often state that their main goal is to help students understand the relationships between bodies of knowledge and to use that knowledge for thinking in highly literate and complex ways.