Using television as a means of delivery for an educational program in rural areas and looking at the media preferences of young adults, this study was conducted in a non-metropolitan area of northwestern New Mexico to examine the effectiveness of television and videotape to provide basic principles of solar energy to 15 young apprentices in a sheet metal program. Pretests were given, followed by classroom study of printed materials, re-testing, and home study. Five audio visual segments were shown in two subsequent meetings, and the final comprehensive test administered. Information from a questionnaire was used to obtain group means, variances, and standard deviations, and minimum and maximum scores were obtained from aptitude tests, pretests, posttests, and final tests. Learning gains were shown by almost all, and the apprentices scored a pretest average of 14.73, a posttest of 22.07, and a learning gain of 7.33. Findings revealed that learning by preferred medium (print/audiovisual) does not appear to lead to greater learning gains, but significant learning can take place using audiovisual or printed materials. Therefore, television is recommended as an effective means of providing instructional programs for young adults who are long distances from centers of instruction. (JD)