How do university students perceive different models of a hydrogen molecule?​

As science educators, we use a multitude of models for describing different phenomena. In this talk, I will present quantitative data on how chemistry students at a Norwegian university perceive different models of a hydrogen molecule. Based on survey answers and interview responses, the following questions can be answered: Which models are they familiar with, and which are unfamiliar to them? Do they find the models easy to understand? Which models do they find the most confusing? Which models are perceived as the most useful, or scientific, or realistic? Do the students unfamiliar with the models perceive them different from how the students familiar with the models perceive them? Which models do the students prefer, and how does this change during their first year at university? Students' responses give insight into the role these models play in their learning processes and may also give hints to which choices should be made in the different stages of chemistry education.