Final answer:
The statement provided by the student is false. An element is a pure chemical substance made of a single type of atom, whereas molecules can be formed by two or more atoms bonded together which may be of the same element or different elements, constituting either a molecule of an element or a chemical compound.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement given is false. An element cannot be two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds acting as a unit. An element is a pure chemical substance consisting of a single type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. However, when two or more atoms, whether of the same element or different elements, are held together by chemical bonds, the resulting entity is called a molecule.
The bonded atoms may form a molecule of an element or a chemical compound depending on whether they are atoms of the same element or different elements. For instance, molecular hydrogen (H2) and oxygen gas (O2) are molecules of their respective elements because they consist of atoms of a single element. A molecule like water (H2O), however, is a chemical compound since it consists of atoms from different elements, specifically hydrogen and oxygen.