In the manufacturing industry, many complex tasks are taught through an apprenticeship program; the experience and expertise gained through years of practice is invaluable to the industry and can be lost if not properly captured and transferred. This paper reports on the design of a training system that combines the use of computer-based associative memory and multimedia functionality, with a focus on patternmaking for the metalcasting industry. The goal of the system is to provide means for helping the student learn the facts and fundamentals of the topic area, as well as to provide support in his practice of the art. The system facilitates associative recall of similar designs encountered in the past and supports troubleshooting and preemptive troubleshooting. Students are taught an important basic skill: the ability to describe designs in terms of meaningful geometric and descriptive features, and to describe the imperfections in terms of standard defect classes and causal features. These linguistically expressed features serve as the interface between the multimedia training system and the student/practitioner. (Author/AEF)